Tiara Wallace was born July 7, 1994. Her mother Ticia Stanford, refers to her as her “miracle baby.” An ultrasound revealed that the child would be born with Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, and as a result of that she was born with an omphalocele – an abdominal wall defect in which the intestines and/or liver (and occasionally other organs) remain outside of the abdomen in a sac because of a defect in the development of the muscles of the abdominal wall. Due to the severity of the surgery, Stanford was informed that the surgery would take several hours and that her infant daughter may or not survive. The child pulled through and broke all of the odds against her.
Wallace began playing volleyball shortly after she began eighth grade at St. Catherine Laboure School. She didn’t make the team. Sometime after that, she was discovered by a coach at Sierra High School named Tony Mayrie, who also coaches a local club team named Beach Cities. It was there that Wallace learned the basic fundamentals of volleyball. Mayrie had her come to the gym every day after school to work with his varsity team to prepare her for the upcoming club season.
When the season started, it was “sheer comedy,” Stanford recalls. “The ball would come over the net and she would look up and watch it fall on to the court, and we would all yell ‘Hit the ball, Tiara, hit the ball!” However, the ineptitude didn’t last long. Wallace began to realize that she had the power and the height to take control of the game, and she began to improve.
Wallace now stands six-feet three inches tall. She is a senior Culver City High School, where she continued to improve her skills under the coaching of Jessica Parel, who pushed her to the limits to make her the best player she could be. As a result, Wallace was awarded all-league honors. But this season, Parel, whom Wallace considers a mentor, did not return as head coach. She assured the volleyball star, however, that she wouldn’t be far away.
This season, coach Chris Fraijo has continued to push the rising star and has taken her game to an even higher level – Wallace was nominated for an all-America team and her Centaurs will do battle in the CIF playoffs.
In addition to her high school team, Wallace has been playing for TCA Volleyball Club in Huntington Beach for the last three years. TCA is widely regarded as one of the top volleyball clubs in the nation and is owned and directed by Neil Mason, who has coach her for all three years. She is now considered one of the top 50 recruited middle blockers and all-around players in America.
To date, Wallace has received numerous letters of interest and offers from more than 50 universities including Harvard University, the University of Virginia, the University of Florida, Miami University, The Ohio State University, Pepperdine University and dozens more. She has been asked to join a team that will play in Italy during the holidays.
In spite of her hard work on the volleyball court, she works just as hard academically to maintain a 3.6 grade point average.
Stanford is rightfully proud of her daughter, who survived a difficult birth and has gone on to thrive on and off the court. “God has Blessed me with an extraordinary daughter, and through volleyball, she has found her place that sets her apart,” she said.
Today, Tiara Wallace will formally announce her decision to join the Long Beach State University women’s volleyball team and pursue a degree in Nursing.
