The Paliboys U10 All-Star Team competed last weekend in spite of having no uniforms, shoes, balls or a place to practice after the Palisades Fire.
Acting Region 69 Commission Debbie Held alerted Circling the News that despite the Palisades Fire resulted in all residents being evacuated, the U-10 All Star Team played last Sunday at Beverly Hills.
All residents should give a shout out to Jack Archipley, Elijah Lalezari, Charles Jaffe, Milan Kohli, Luca House, Sawyer Oles, Landen Mosh, Jackson Homme and Brennan Walsh for their tenacity and showing Los Angeles and the nation that Palisades is strong. (Also, on the team but not playing that day was Charles Jaffe.)
Coach Vinay Kohli, a healthcare lawyer at Proskauer Rose lived on El Medio, before he, too has had to relocate his family because of the fire.
“I started as the assistant; however, the team head coach had to relocate back to Bay Area temporarily and was instrumental in the transition process in ensuring that we could pick up where we left off [before the fire],” he said.
Kohli, a Village School parent, told players “this is your team.” He told them they could choose to do whatever they wanted. “They could choose to disband. They could choose to take a break. Or they could choose to play.”
He said, “there is so much that we can’t control right now—it was important for them to know that they have say in what happens next.”
But, Kohli said, “I was beyond shocked when eight players—including my son—raised their hand to participate in the Area tournament, and we felt it was critical to make it happen for them.”
There was a full effort from AYSO Area P with Commissioner Ken Kotarski and Held, tapping into their networks.
Beverly Hills donated uniforms to the players. Pro soccer player Stuart Holden’s charity donated cleats. Santa Monica found them field time in Santa Monica for future practices and gave them each $100 gift cards.
South Los Angeles delivered them a ball with inspirational messages, the Hollywood region gave them each sportsmanship award tags, and West LA prepared “Palisades Strong” shirts for them following a fundraiser.
“None of this was expected,” Kohli said, “But everything was so deeply and profoundly appreciated.”
Palisades can be proud, because these players showed up, competed and exhibited positivity and reliance, despite the fact that they, too, had lost everything in the fire.
“These players are eight and nine years old and are an inspiration for showing up,” Kohli said. “And for a few hours each day, they gave themselves and their parents a gift by making all of our lives feel normal again.”