Russian hockey players rebuffed by ASAA board

• Rule change to allow Old Believer hockey players on HHS team rejected

by Aaron Selbig
Homer Tribune
After nearly two years of endless phone calls, lengthy e-mail conversations and far-flung meetings, Kim Duggar – the Homer hockey mom who has been fighting on behalf of hockey players in the Russian Old Believer communities of Voznesenka, Razdolna and Kachemak-Selo – appears to have come to the end of the line.
On Monday, members of the Alaska Schools Activities Association Board of Directors voted 7-1 to reject a waiver to ASAA rules that currently prevent students from smaller 1A and 2A classified schools from playing sports for 3A or 4A schools like Homer High.
The ruling came despite testimony from Duggar and a group of five Russian players – Alex Sanarov, Dennis Sanarov, Vladimir Sanarov, Mark Reutov and Zenon Martishev – and letters in support of the waiver from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board, Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska.
As it stands now, hockey players from the Russian villages – many of whom grow up playing with the Homer Hockey Association – run into a roadblock when they reach ninth grade. They can either enroll at Homer High or a home-schooling program, or stay at the village school and give up competitive hockey.
It’s an unfair choice, said Duggar, and ASAA’s rules don’t take into account the unique situation faced by the Old Believer villages.
“Even though they saw those Russians there and listened to what they had to say, they still chose not to think of the students,” said Duggar of the board’s decision.
“It was a difficult decision,” said ASAA Executive Director Gary Matthews. “They understand all the issues presented by the parents, students and the school board … but right now, the way the bylaw is, they didn’t feel they could grant a waiver.”
Presented with an opinion by their attorney, Jim Brennan, saying they may not even have the authority to grant the waiver, the ASAA board instead directed its staff to explore changing the bylaw that prevents small 1A and 2A schools from joining forces with larger 3A and 4A schools. The board intends to take up the matter at their meeting in February.
But Matthews admitted such a “fundamental, very substantive” change in the rules isn’t likely to gain much traction.
“There’s some fear there that it would open up a can of worms,” he said.
Ninilchik School Principal Terry Martin – who represents Region 2, including Voznesenka, on the ASAA board – said approving the waiver request for the Russian hockey players would have had “statewide ramifications.” In Anchorage, for example, student athletes from private Christian schools like Grace Christian and Lumen Christi could have pursued a similar waiver to join up with teams from the bigger 4A schools, Martin said.
“Lumen (Christi) doesn’t have a football team,” he explained. “Based on this type of waiver, Lumen could have said, ‘We want our kids to play football and they should be able to play at West, East or Colony.’”
ASAA Region 3 representative Dan Michael, whose region includes Homer High, said he foresaw similar waiver requests in the Mat-Su Valley – where he is the activity principal at Wasilla High – if the Homer waiver had gone through.
“It’s a hot topic,” said Michael. “I definitely think it’s a compelling story and I can see the different perspectives on it but … the bylaws do not speak to a waiver in this situation.”
Michael and Martin both voted against the waiver request. Board members Roseann Demmert, of Klawock, and Ryan Varela, of Ketchikan, cast the only “yes” votes, although Varela – a student representative – has only an “advisory” vote.
In an Aug. 26 letter to Matthews and board members, ACLU of Alaska Staff Attorney Jason Brandeis lobbied ASAA to grant the waiver, saying the change would encourage students from the Russian Old Believer communities to stay in school while freely practicing their religious beliefs.
“It furthers not just the academic and social needs of the students, but also ensures compliance with the right to free exercise of religion contained in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” said Brandeis in the letter.
Despite Monday’s ruling, Brandeis said the ACLU does not plan to bring a case against ASAA.
“At this time, the ACLU has no immediate legal action plans,” he said.
Duggar, who has long maintained that the hockey waiver would have helped to further bridge the cultural gap between the people of Homer and the Russian Old Believer communities, said she still has hope that ASAA will someday see the wisdom of changing the rules.
“We gave it our best effort,” she said. “We’ll see what happens.”

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