Alaskan Nets documentary to play at school fund raiser

Save the date!

WAITSBURG-The Waitsburg Class of 2023 will show the movie Alaskan Nets on Saturday, March 19, a fundraising event presented by Alaska Airlines. The Alaskan Nets website states that the award-winning film tells the story of a small Alaskan village and their 2018 boys' basketball team. It's a story about life and a story about a community overcoming hardship.

There are two sacred traditions on the remote Southeast Alaska island of Metlakatla: fishing and basketball. Waitsburg High School alumni, TJ Scott is the coach of the team that won their first championship in over 30 years. The movie will begin at 6 p.m. in the WHS auditorium.

Prior to the movie the Class of 2023 will host a dinner; serving hamburgers starting at 5 p.m.

There will be a silent auction to benefit students attending the Alaskan Biology and Washington, DC trips. Save the date, March 19, and stay tuned for more information before the event.

METLAKATLA, Alaska-The documentary Alaskan Nets premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in April 2021. The movie focuses on former Waitsburg-Prescott basketball coach TJ Scott who now coaches the Metlakatla Chiefs basketball

Scott first moved to Metlakatla in 2012 after the school superintendent reached out to him about a coaching position.

"I was teaching part-time in Prescott and coaching for Waitsburg-Prescott when I got a call from the superintendent here," Scott said. "They were looking for a head basketball coach, and he pretty much said he would find a full-time teaching job for me, but they didn't know in what department yet. Basically, they wanted me for a coach, and they'd find a place for me to teach."

It took a moment for Scott to decide if he wanted to move to a remote community, accessible only by plane or boat, but he ultimately decided to take the leap. He said he fell in love with the area, and he's been there ever since. He was joined in 2016 by his (now) wife, Ashley Coila Scott (also from Waitsburg).

Sports are a completely different situation for remote island communities. In Waitsburg, athletes load up on a bus, drive a couple of hours to their game destination, play, and come home. Regional and state-level games may take athletes away for a weekend, but never much longer than two or three days.

In Metlakatla, however, league games are a four-to-five-day ordeal.

"When we go play Haines, for example, we leave on Thursday morning. We ferry to Ketchikan, stay in Ketchikan for the day, and then fly to Juneau, and stay the night in Juneau. Then, we get up at five in the morning and take a ferry to Haines, which is a six-hour ferry," Scott said. "We play Friday and Saturday, and we ferry back Sunday, fly back to Ketchikan, and we are home by Monday night. And that's only a league game."

The extra travel time has given Scott a chance to develop a positive relationship with his athletes. He said that he has become a father figure to many, because he spends so much time with the athletes.

"It's a whole different dynamic up here. I spend a lot of time with my team, but I'm also away from my family that much more," he said.

A couple of years into his coaching career, Scott said independent journalist Samuel Wilson asked to follow the team for a month. The final essay and photographs were featured online by ESPN, and discovered by producer Jeff Harasimowicz (Ultimate Rush, Way of Life).

Experienced film producer and sports enthusiast, Harasimowicz said that he had always been interested in doing a "Friday Night Lights" type story and was intrigued by Wilson's essay.

"Seeing those images and hearing a little bit about the community. The only Native reserve in Alaska, where high schoolers are doing this very lucrative, yet dangerous, job (commercial fishing) to support their families, and the fact that basketball is the kind of the center of this community's passion, and tradition, and pride," Harasimowicz said.

"It was this unbelievable intersection for a super-compelling story."

Haerasimiowicz's crew got very close with the athletes and the community, forming a family-like bond. The dangerous reality of the fishing industry was especially hard for the crew to come to terms with.

This was an excerpt from an article published in the March 11, 2021 issue of The Times.