Sports

10-year-old boy is unlikely Shootout hero

When the night began, he was just a little kid sitting in row 7, section 108. By evening's end, he was everyone's hero.

Makary Kashatok's magical moment at the Great Alaska Shootout was one of those improbable times when fate and hope conspire to bring an unexpected bit of joy into the world. All because one kid just wasn't going to give up.

The Diagnostic Health "Last Fan Jumping" contest is a promotional event during which everyone in the Alaska Airlines Center is encouraged to jump for as long as they can after the opening tip-off of each game. The winner gets a T-shirt. Most people stop jumping after about 30 seconds -- if they jump at all.

During the championship game of the women's tournament on Wednesday night, about a dozen kids were still jumping by the first timeout. Most were girls, energetic-looking tweens who looked like they skipped rope for breakfast and played hopscotch for lunch.

After 15 minutes or so, the number of remaining jumpers had been halved. Some were barely jumping, gamely shifting from one foot to the other as sweat began to glisten on their foreheads.

One jumper stood out.

Still bouncing in his gray sweatshirt, Makary Kashatok, 10, was the only boy left in the competition as the first half neared its midway point. By this time, almost a half hour had elapsed. The husky Abbott Loop Elementary fifth-grader was working up a lather trying to keep up with the springy girls scattered throughout the arena. Looks were going around between the competitors, their faces fixed with looks of stubborn determination.

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People started to notice Kashatok. His determination was drawing smiles from the crowd, including members of the Yale women's basketball team, who an hour earlier had lost to Boise State and would be flying home to Connecticut after going 0-2 in Alaska.

The Bulldogs were inspired by the dark-haired little boy's relentlessness, and they decided to intercede. Two players, Clara Mokri of Los Angeles and Mary Ann Santucci of Seattle, walked across the arena to where Kashatok was still bobbing up and down. They handed him a water bottle and told him they were pulling for him. Kashatok beamed, sipping the water gratefully as he continued his mission.

"We wanted him to stay hydrated," Santucci said. "Plus, he's just so cute!"

Mokri said the Yale players thought Kashatok's determination was inspiring, and they wanted to show their admiration.

"When you put your mind to something, you can achieve anything," she said. "But with the help of others you can do even more.

"When people have your back you perform better."

Kashatok kept jumping, buoyed by the young women's gift.

Finally, after nearly 40 minutes, contest organizers mercifully decided enough was enough. They declared one particularly spunky little girl the winner based on "height of jump," and awarded her the T-shirt. She deserved it.

Kashatok sat down next to his auntie, Ernestine Alexie, who brought her basketball-loving nephew to the tournament after winning tickets on local radio station Z93.7 ("Everybody's station"). His puffy red cheeks had a proud glow.

"It really made me happy when those girls came and gave me water," he said.

Kashatok didn't leave the arena empty handed. Women on the Boise State team also noticed his effort, and players Lexie Der of Burnaby, British Columbia, and Julia Dufurrena ?of Winnemucca, Nevada, visited him in his seat, handing him a Broncos t-shirt and baseball hat. Kashatok beamed as he posed for pictures with the players, who made sure Alexie took pictures with their cameras. They wanted to remember the little Alaska boy in section 108 who just wouldn't quit.

Kashatok said he was tired, and after he finished jumping he settled back into his seat for a well-deserved bag of popcorn. He said he might have stopped sooner if it weren't for his new admirers.

"I said in my mind, 'I would really like to win it for them.' "

Contact reporter Matt Tunseth at 257-4335 or mtunseth@alaskadispatch.com

Matt Tunseth

Matt Tunseth is a former reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and former editor of the Alaska Star.

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