MIDDLE EAST KINSHIP GROWS AT TAFT.

Byline: CHRIS BRANAM Local

Under different circumstances, they could have thrown rocks at each other. Maybe even turned guns on each other. But here, playing a sport that they loved for Taft High, they developed a friendship.

Tomer Firouzman, Elan Yakovee and Afran Naoum all started for the Toreadors in the City 4-A volleyball championship game on Friday night against Palisades. After Taft lost in four games to the top-seeded Dolphins, the threesome comforted each other.

Firouzman and Yakovee, who are seniors, are of Israeli descent. Naoum, also a senior, is Syrian. Israel and Syria have fought three wars in the past 40 years and are traditional enemies in the Middle East.

There was never any animosity between these teammates, though.

``It was never an issue,'' Naoum said. ``It's not a factor.''

Firouzman said he considered all his teammates ``brothers,'' especially Naoum. This, despite the fact that Syria supported the Palestinian effort to create a homeland.

``Me and Afran used to play soccer together and, coincidentally, we ended up on the same volleyball team,'' Firouzman said on Sunday. ``We had prom last night and we spent most of the time together. We get along very easily.

``We knew that Israel and Syria are always enemies. We didn't care about that.''

Yakovee said he didn't know Naoum was Syrian until last year.

``I base my own opinions on my own assumptions,'' he said.

What has helped kindle the friendship between Firouzman, an outside hitter, and Naoum, a setter, is the support they receive from their families.

``They don't mind at all,'' Naoum said.

Naoum was born in the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich country of 2.3 million people on the southern tip of the Persian Gulf. Civil unrest in 1988 brought Naoum's family to the U.S. He quickly adjusted to life in America, especially in school.

``It was a piece of cake,'' Naoum said. ``I already knew English.''

Firouzman came to the U.S. from Israel in 1987.

``(My family) doesn't care about race or religion or whatever,'' he said.

Soccer and volleyball brought Firouzman and Naoum together. They became close over the past four years. Especially this season, as the Toreadores' made a 4-A championship appearance their goal.

Togetherness became a theme for Taft volleyball this year.

``It was definitely something we needed to work on,'' said Taft coach Doug Magorien, who guided the Toreadores to the 4-A title game for the first time since winning it in 1990. ``At every level, it's important to have that camaraderie.''

Over the past several years, Magorien could see the glares and the grousing on the court. So did Naoum.

``We were getting mad at each other,'' he said. ``Now, if mistakes occur, we just say, `No problem.' ''

Sixteen times since the first week of March, the team ate together. Sometimes it was lunch before a match. Sometimes it was a barbecue at one of the players' houses. Usually, senior Julio Arteaga would entertain the rest of the team with his impressions, including the one of Magorien that Firouzman couldn't mention without laughing.

Magorien said these get-togethers were very effective, especially for a team that had so many different ethnicities.

``Sport brings people together,'' he said. ``It's the one place where you see true integration. . . . You're all striving for one common goal and that's what brings people together.''

Volleyball brought together Firouzman, Yakovee and Naoum. It was by their own will that they put aside the bitterness most Israelis and Syrians feel for one another.