Dolphins Still Facing Challenges After Palisades Fire

The Palisades Dolphins are getting ready for their season opener, but this fall will be very tough one. The Dolphins’ home, the Stadium by the Sea, is still out of commission after January’s wildfire left it out of commission. The team, the school and the community behind them, have been struggling to recover ever since.

The football schedule is set: Harvard-Westlake on Aug. 28 and league games in October—but where some of Pali's home games will actually be played is still an open question.  Practices have been pieced together on rented fields around the Westside. Players and coaches have to haul gear from one temporary setup to the next.

The school, as a whole, has often had to improvise.  After the fire, administrators struck a deal to convert the old Sears building on Colorado Avenue into a makeshift campus, known as “Pali South.” They have hurriedly transformed the former department store into a four-story schoolhouse with partitioned classrooms. The setup is less than ideal. Temporary walls mean little soundproofing and the building is crowded with 2,500 students. Students and parents are still navigating the challenges presented by increased traffic, new busing routes and frustration with communication. While students are still trying to adjust to the losses of last year, they face many new hardships. This is especially true of thethe school’s football players who are still without a true home field.

For now, the Dolphins will play wherever they can. Parents, students and coaches alike hope that a revamped Stadium by the Sea will eventually rise up from the ashes. Until then, every home game is an away game--save two which will be played at Santa Monica College--and every practice comes with its own set of struggles and challenges. Nevertheless; the players remain determined. This season, like this school year, will be defined by their resilience.