By Davis Ramage
“Correction: This story was changed at 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29, to correct the collegiate career of Rachel Fattal.”
The Beach sent seven individuals including athletes from three different countries and coaches to Paris for the 2024 Olympics.
Headlining The Beach’s success in Paris were former LBSU men’s volleyball players T.J. Defalco and Kyle Ensing with Defalco a member of Team USA’s primary roster and Ensing serving as a replacement for Team USA in the event of an injury to a primary player.
Team USA went on to take home a bronze medal with a 3-0 win over Italy in the bronze medal match.
Both Defalco and Ensing graduated from The Beach in 2019 and competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after having standout careers at LBSU which included back-to-back National Championships in 2018 and 2019.
Another pair of Beach teammates also competed in the Games, women’s water polo players Orsi Hertzka, who represented France, and Marilia Mimides, who represented Canada. Both graduated from LBSU in 2022.
Both Team Canada and Team France went 1-3 in the Preliminary Round and did not advance to the Quarterfinals, leaving Hertzka and Mimides without medals at the 2024 Games.
In her time at The Beach, Hertzka recorded two 72-goal seasons which is the second most goals scored in a single season at The Beach, and recorded a total of 185 goals in her three seasons which puts her in third place for career goals at LBSU.
Mimides was also a standout at LBSU as she was an All-Big West selection as a senior for The Beach.
Rachel Fattal also played women’s water polo collegiately at UCLA and works as an assistant coach at The Beach. Fattal was a part of Team USA at this year’s Olympic Games where she and her team aimed for their third straight gold medal, but fell short of a medal entirely as they lost in the bronze medal match to the Netherlands.
Not only did The Beach send former athletes to the Olympics, but two current LBSU head coaches were selected to lead teams in Paris.
LaTanya Sheffield was given the honor of being the head coach for Team USA’s women’s track & field team and Gavin Arroyo served as an assistant coach for Team USA’s men’s water polo team.
Sheffield is the sprints, hurdles and relays coach at The Beach and in Paris, she and her team dominated the field winning 15 medals overall including seven gold medals.
Sheffield had high expectations for the Paris Games saying, “We can’t fail,” in an interview with the Long Beach Current, previously Daily 49er, last spring.
Arroyo is the men’s water polo head coach at The Beach and he and the Team USA men’s water polo team won bronze after defeating Hungary in the bronze medal match.
LBSU was well represented at this year’s Olympic Games and with plenty of stand-out athletes currently at The Beach, there will be another opportunity to shine again in Los Angeles in 2028.
