WHITE PINE, Tenn. — Lakeway Christian Academy's boys’ basketball season came to an end earlier this week.
For one player on the team, it’s not just the beginning of his playing days with the Lions. It's a new beginning, after fleeing Ukraine because of the war.
Ivan Moskalenko started playing basketball at a young age in Ukraine. He remembers the moment he decided he wanted to take basketball seriously.
“We lost," he said with a laugh. "I think minus seven, or minus ten, (points). I think I made one point on a free throw. I’m just really bad, I can’t even dribble it or something. My teammate passed the ball to me and I throw, and somebody pushed me and I was like, 'Yes!' I got to the free throw line. I missed the first one but not the second one. I was so happy I made a point."
He liked playing basketball in Ukraine. However, over the past year, life changed. About a year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, starting a war.
“It was like, everything is crazy," Moskalenko said. "Like, I don’t know. Everything is new for me.”
Ivan’s family fled to Poland to a refugee camp. There was an opportunity to escape that life.
Lakeway Christian Academy had already been in touch to have Ivan come play basketball here. They just didn’t know it would be so soon, and at the same time as he entered the eighth grade.
The school helped him in his Visa process, found him housing in East Tennessee, and his parents sent him to the U.S.
"We were able to try and move that forward and it was fairly, fairly hard at first," said Curtis Staples, the Lakeway Christian head coach. "But we were able to make contact with Ivan. Obviously, with the war in Ukraine, communication was the best. But we were able to keep that line of communication open."
It was a moment that could have really rattled Ivan having to flee, but he took it in stride.
“I was actually excited because, when I was watching in Ukraine all the time, like that level I wanted to play here," the Lions guard/forward said. "I wanted to play here really bad.”
For the past seven months, he has played in America. His favorite part about playing in the country is dunking.
“Everybody loves it. Everybody loves it," he said with a smile. "In Ukraine, if you dunk, you just dunk. But if you dunk here everyone is like, 'Yay!'”
Dunking is pretty easy for the 6'7" tall player. With the Lions, he is usually one of the first to come off the bench to contribute. Once again, he is doing this as an eighth grader, so there is a lot of excitement about his potential.
Ivan is excited about next season, so he can really start developing his skills. He also said he is thankful for the opportunity to play in the U.S.
Ivan lives with one of his teammates. His family lives in Ukraine now, where they feel it's safe. They get to see clips of him playing hoops and they love the clips they get to watch.