UCLA women's basketball team copes with fear, uncertainty during fire threat
Like many Angelenos, the UCLA women’s basketball team is dealing with the catastrophic toll of the massive wildfires this past week — a firestorm inching perilously closer to home.
Just seven miles west of Pauley Pavilion, the Palisades fire rages, prompting the evacuation of nearby Brentwood on Saturday and steadily advancing toward campus.
“I wish we weren’t having to go through it,” coach Cori Close said. “I’m devastated by some of the hurt that people are experiencing right now and the devastation to our city.”
At one point, the blaze encroached upon the homes of Close and assistant Tony Newnan, who live near the edge of the fire zone. Fortunately, Close said Friday none of the athletes or other coaches had homes in immediate danger.
With gratitude comes a profound tinge of guilt in knowing the hardships others have endured — the ravaging of more than 20,000 acres and displacement of tens of thousands.
Read more: UCLA women remain undefeated with rout of Purdue
“It’s almost like you don’t even want to say it because you know so many people have it so much worse, but we’ve been very fortunate,” Close said.
The Bruins must balance their status as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team while confronting real-world hardship beyond the court and the university’s protective walls.
The past few days have been extremely difficult for everyone as the program works to stay focused on basketball. For the out-of-state players who make up most of the Bruins’ roster, their first experience with a wildfire is the most destructive in Los Angeles County history.
Since the fires began, coaches have given players space to process the unfolding events while conducting nightly check-ins to ensure safety.
Compartmentalizing the dread and disarray offers a lesson that Close says teaches “how to be the best version of ourselves in the face of extreme adversity.”
“One of the reasons this experience is so valuable is because this won’t be the last difficult thing they have in their lives,” she added. “I wish it was. I wish I could protect them all and put them in a little bubble, but I can’t.”
After returning home from their decisive win at Purdue on Tuesday — the same day the initial blazes ignited — the players took two days off from practice. They had faced uncertainty about what they would return to following a long flight home from Indiana. Two donors traveling with the program faced a deeper fear, grappling with the reality that their home in the fire zone might not withstand the flames — a fear later confirmed.
“We got off the plane, and our players knew that [the home] was at risk, and they just went and engulfed them and hugged them,” Close said, nearly choking up. “That’s what Bruins do. We show up for each other.”
Read more: Plaschke: Cori Close forging a new UCLA legend with the lessons John Wooden taught her
The following day, players including Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice continued attending classes while the campus remained shrouded in an orange haze, with ash and smoke filling the air as the Palisades fire burned miles away.
UCLA eventually canceled undergraduate classes and moved graduate classes online for the rest of the week, leaving the players with one full day off before returning to practice.
For Jaquez, who grew up in Camarillo, an hour’s drive from Pacific Palisades, wildfires are a sad reality she’s long been familiar with and witnessed firsthand.
“We feel very sorry, and it’s so sad, so tragic,” Jaquez said. “Being from Southern California and having dealt with plenty of fires in the past, I feel like I found a way to handle it.”
For Rice, a native of Washington, D.C., where wildfires are nearly nonexistent, encountering such devastation is new. She is one of nine players from outside California witnessing the decimation.
“This is obviously so devastating, just how close it is to us,” Rice said. “Just seeing a lot of people close to this program have lost homes and a lot of stuff in these fires.”
While many players are grateful for basketball as a distraction, Close noted that others are wrestling with the anxiety of facing a wildfire.
“One of our players said in film, ‘Intellectually, I’m OK, but it’s sort of like being in Kansas for the first time and having there be a tornado,’” Close said. “‘You know it’s far away, but you’ve still never experienced that, so it’s still so scary.’”
Close reassured the parents of out-of-state players that their children are safe. At the same time, she and her staff are managing the well-being of their own families.
Read more: Epic aerial assault to protect homes in Brentwood, Encino as L.A. wildfire death toll rises
Friday’s return to practice brought solace as the players refocused on maintaining their No. 1 ranking.
“We still get to play the sport we love,” Close said. “Just because there’s so much hurt going on right now and difficulty doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still find joy in playing this game that we love and be committed to that.”
Close is well versed in leading through adversity as she demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Continuing their success while the city burns around them is no different.
“This is what we do,” she said. “We find a way. We can’t control this, but this is what we know how to do. We know how to lead through this. … I also believe our players are well equipped.”
Close takes pride in how her squad pivots to unexpected challenges and perseveres. The hope is that when the team takes the court, it will emerge as a squad forged in fire.
However, their next game is delayed slightly, now tentatively set for Wednesday at home against Penn State. Despite her best efforts to prepare for a Sunday matchup against Northwestern, the Wildcats decided not to travel to L.A. because of the fires. The Big Ten Conference announced that the game will be rescheduled.
It’s one of many sporting events disrupted by the wildfires. When the Bruins play their next game, it will provide a much-needed sense of normalcy. Just as Close has faith in its impact on her players, she believes L.A. eventually will regain normalcy.
“What’s happening in our city is just overwhelming,” Close said. “But I’m also so confident in the city’s resilience. Its unity. Its find-a-way mentality. I just know Angelenos are going to find a way to come back stronger.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
