Nine months after the most destructive wildfire in California history turned their town into scorched metal and dust, the Paradise Bobcats are embarking on training camp for an autumn that is as much about healing as winning. A column from BillPlaschke:
“You have to understand, we’ve all run these plays since we were 10 years old. … We could do it with our eyes closed,” says running back Lukas Hartley. “Nobody notices that it’s dark. Even though we’re not in our houses that burned up, we all feel like we’re home.”by The Times. The players have told harrowing tales of their escapes. They have described the pain of losing possessions, the uncertainty of temporary housing, and the frustration of having a potential championship season abruptly end.
Paradise football players walk past burned structures while making their way up"Glory Hill" during a night training camp session. For two nights, the team that practices in the dark also sleeps together, retiring to the school gym to spend the night locked away from turmoil. They crowd the edges of the basketball court with air mattresses and mats and a tent, huddled amid the whirring of an air conditioner and the occasional visit by a cockroach.
“They need to feel connected to this place again,” says Prinz, a former youth pastor who shepherds his players’ emotions as carefully as he runs their offense. “They need to remember this is still their home.” Prinz notices Brady and brings him a wrestling mat and a blanket. Brady, who commuted an hour from his relocated home in Linda, Calif., drops down on it and is soon asleep. Several hours later, he awakens with a realization.
The run is their first act of commitment. They glide along a path through rubble, waiting for each other at the bottom of the final hill, then charge up with such passion that several lean over a nearby fence and vomit. “I wanted to walk, they kept going, ‘Run, run, run,’” he says. “My legs hurt, my ribs hurt, everything hurts, but this is why I came here.”
In the middle of the ceremony, there is a cry from among the players – a rare certainty in the minds of these unsettled teenagers.Finally, they hit. “Every one of these players has just been itching to get back on the field to hit somebody,” says Kasten Ortiz, a senior tackle. “It’s all leading up to this, getting pads and helmets on; people getting generally pissed off, not at each other, just what we’ve been through.”
Then there is the field, unlined and unmarked because it only recently was brought back to life after going nine months without water.
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