HS Basketball Player Dies After Collapsing During Practice

A female basketball player at Notre Dame High School in California has died after collapsing during practice.

Teammate Nichole Macciello told KTLA that the team was doing a “track run” when Nikki Valdez, a freshman, fell to the ground. Macciello called 911, and paramedics arrived to the scene.

According to a statement released by the Brett Lowart, the school president, Valdez was transferred to Sherman Oaks Hospital after being treated by the paramedics. The basketball team and other school staff were at the hospital with family members when Valdez was pronounced dead.

“I couldn’t help but cry,” Macciello said. “It was really hard.”

The cause of the collapse that lead to Valdez’s death was not immediately known.

A member of the class of 2019, Valdez had an older brother, Addison, who is a junior at the school.

Lowart encouraged students to attend grief-counseling sessions throughout the day after Valdez died.

“The Notre Dame community will assuredly come together in faith, as it always does, to comfort and support the Valdez family and one another,” Lowart said in a statement.