It seemed like a typical day of practice for the El Capitan High School Boys Varsity team, but most of the team was missing the field. On November 11, senior Andy Gerardo-Novelo suddenly collapsed during practice, and assistant coach John Curo was the first to reach him.

“I was the one who gave him CPR, chest compressions, and within three minutes the sheriffs were here,” Curo says. “And within five minutes the paramedics were here. So it all happened very quickly and I was lucky to be here.”

Meanwhile, head coach Sahil Alami rushed to call 9-1-1, clearly realizing that time was of the essence.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” explains Coach Alami. “I have never been in a situation where I had to respond to this violence.”

This was a moment they had both trained for as coaches but never thought they would experience.

“I never expected something like this to happen to us,” Alami says.

This is difficult for them and the entire team, including Marcus Gonzalez.

“I was thinking in my head, this might be the last time I see it; I’ve never been in anything like this before,” he says.

And things could quickly get worse.

“Luckily for him, I was in the right place at the right time,” says Curo.

Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming more than 350,000 lives each year, according to a report from the American Heart Association.

Approximately 39% of sudden heart attacks in people under 18 are sports-related.

Less than 10% of sudden cardiac arrest victims do not survive because bystanders are unprepared to respond to a cardiac emergency.

“The doctors asked his family to give us a message saying that we saved his life and that it was a miracle that he was still with us,” says Alami.

“I was so lucky to be there to help him and do whatever I could for him,” Curo says.

A. GoFundMeMade for the family.