HAINES -- I'm still hearing the drone of the crowd and an occasional whistle after four days and nights of high school basketball games.
During the 3A/4A Southeast Alaska high school basketball tournament last week the Ketchikan gym was full every night, and most afternoons, and it holds 2,500 fans. That's more people than live in Haines. The school also housed out about 600 more from Tuesday night thru Sunday morning. All of the students arrived on this little island city in the Tongass rainforest by boat or plane, hauling duffels, sleeping bags, and if they are in a pep band (each school sends one), musical instruments. The Juneau cheer and dance squad even brought a U-Haul for props. Many of the athletes and entertainers arrived with their parents, grandparents and a sibling or two, who filled up the motels and hotels.
There are only two large or 4A schools in our region since Sitka dropped down to 3A, so Juneau and Ketchikan played a best-of-three series to determine which team would go to the state championship. The first night the pep bands filled one end of the barn-roofed gym and played "Barbara Ann" and "Louie Louie" and their old-fashioned school songs as cheerleaders cartwheeled along the sidelines, basketball players in baggy satin shorts ran through passing and lay-up drills on the court and coaches in ties or heels paced near the team benches. Costumed mascots (Ketchikan had two plush gray king salmon) waved to the crowd and, when the announcer told us to, we all stood and the men removed their hats for the national anthem.
It really was better than the NBA or the NCAA, especially since we knew so many students and teachers, or at least recognized their names and faces. Still, my husband, who is not easily wowed, said "this is like a movie."
Which is the shortest way I can describe the largest high school sporting event in Southeast Alaska. We know each other because most of the players have had dinner and slept in their rivals' homes. All season long basketball teams from our coastal communities travel by air and sea to other towns to play. They are housed with the families of the home team.
The students from Mt. Edgecumbe boarding school in Sitka are my favorites, because they come from far away places like Tulusak. They like being part of the family for the weekend and sometimes speak Alaskan languages among themselves. When they are in Haines, I think, it must seem like a foreign country. Now, I wonder what they must make of Ketchikan, with its puddles, boardwalks and blooming primroses -- in early March.
A person could live in Alaska their whole life and never see a caribou herd cross the arctic plains or a humpback whale breach in Peril Strait. With all due respect to the Iditarod, there are not many high school kids that have ridden in a dog sled, but there are few, if any, from Metlakatla to Barrow who haven't held a basketball.
And to these Southeast students and their families, it seems perfectly normal to take a ship home from the last tournament of the season.
When we got on the state ferry Malispina on Sunday morning, (we would get to Haines just in time for school Tuesday) there were 410 passengers -- mostly high school students. The only place teens weren't lying on the floor or sprawled across a few seats was the cafeteria. Still, every table was full and the Filipino-American cooks were busy grilling cheeseburgers.
The Haines boys basketball team members were playing cards. All-Conference junior Kyle Fossman was paired with a not-as-skilled freshman, but it was agreed that he couldn't partner with his cousin, Stuart DeWitt, a Haines alum and one of our assistant girls' coaches, because they are both too good at games, from spades to basketball.
Kyle's parents and Stu's uncle and aunt coach the Haines boys. My daughter and son-in-law coach the girls. The Mt. Edgecumbe and Petersburg coaches are some kind of cousins, and two more Mt. Edgecumbe coaches are Haines High alums. Another Haines High alum directs the Craig pep band. There are even brothers that play for different teams -- one with Sitka, the other Mt. Edgecumbe. A Craig girl plays for Juneau. I'm sure there are dozens more relationships between these teams and communities. It's like a big extended family.
For 10 years, from December to March, our family life has revolved around the high school basketball schedule -- from housing and travel to practices and games. All five of our children played, but none of them will be wearing the green and white uniform again. Neither Haines team made the cut for the state championships this year.
Back when my oldest was a freshman, I wondered if I'd survive basketball season.
Now that my youngest is senior, I wish it wasn't over. And I don't just mean the smiles of winning or the hugs in losing. What I'll miss most is watching them put all their young hearts into bouncing a ball and tossing it through a hoop. I'll miss watching them play games.
Heather Lende lives and writes in Haines.
HEATHER LENDE
AROUND ALASKA