HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — One Huntersville high school is celebrating its champions -- Lake Norman Charter High School’s varsity volleyball team just took the state title for the second year in a row on Friday.
Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis met with the team before their championship game and learned the team is no stranger to fighting tough battles on and off the court.
“Oh my gosh! So I’ve known Coach Zoey ... she’s awesome,” Avery Caruso told Channel 9.
Avery Caruso lights up when she talks about her volleyball coach, Zoey Reid.
“She always helps like inspire us when we’re in our huddles. She always knows what to say,” Avery said.
The feeling is mutual.
“I like to call it a God-winked moment that I got to coach Avery,” Zoey said.
Avery is a freshman, but plays varsity volleyball at Lake Norman Charter High School. She and her assistant coach share an unlikely bond off the court.
“I remember basically everything, so it was really hard,” Avery said.
Avery is a childhood cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with leukemia at age 9. She’s now in remission and celebrating a big milestone.
“Today is the day that I rang the bell four years ago,” Avery said.
But Coach Zoey is in the thick of her own battle.
“My senior year of college, I was diagnosed with stage four rhabdomyosarcoma, which is a soft tissue muscle cancer, and it’s very, very, very rare,” Zoey said.
She overcame it once. But last summer, she relapsed, just after getting the job as the head middle school and assistant varsity coach.
“I’m like, wait, I can’t go through all this intensive treatment. I’ve literally just got this job, and I’m coaching these little girls, and they need me,” Zoey said.
But through the treatment, she continues to show up.
“She’s such a fighter,” Avery said.
As they do for her.
“If I couldn’t speak because I was doing treatment that day, or if I couldn’t coach or I couldn’t go out there and give it my all, those girls didn’t mind. They were still there in my corner no matter what, making sure. ‘Hey, coach, do you need a fan or do you need some water?’” Zoey said.
“It’s, I get to go to volleyball today. I don’t ‘have,’ it’s not ‘have.’ It’s like I ‘get’ to, because there’s somebody laying in a hospital bed right now, wishing they had the opportunity that I had to just wake up and walk and go to school and go and teach or do anything,” Zoey said.
Together, they’re learning what it really takes to be a champion on and off the court.