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Six months after Jim and some of their homes were defeated by the Palisade Fire, the West Los Angeles-born volleyball team took home National Gold.
The 16-year-old of the SMBC Shack Volleyball team scored the victory after a season of unbeaten after playing six hours at the AAU Boys Junior National Volleyball Tournament in Orlando.
“We went through a lot. We worked hard and finally won. We finally got it all out,” said Sam Schwartz, a player who lost his home in the fire.
The final match lasted about two hours, with longest-running coach Ethan Marshall saying he’s never seen before.
The disaster gave Schwartz and his fellow teammates a drive to overcome.
After a third set that bitten the nail, the team secured a 29-27 victory.
The Palisade fire began with a storm in Santa Ana on January 7th, destroying thousands of businesses and homes along the Los Angeles coast.
Among the damaged structures was the gym at Pallisard Charter High School, the team’s main practice facility, which forced the team to find a new practice facility.
Despite the improvisation, Marshall said the team remains “fluid and adaptable.”
Marshall scheduled practices and care packages in the hopes that the fire would distract them from what they took from them.
“We tried to do everything we could to unravel their minds,” he said.
Like many of his teammates, Schwartz said he found comfort in volleyball.
“I still have volleyball. That may have gone away. I still have school. I still have friends,” he said. “It really gives me the idea that I am grateful for what I have now.
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