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By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. – It was 1-1 within the third set Friday afternoon when Yuliia Starodubtseva’s singles tennis match was halted after Previous Dominion clinched the match towards Missouri, Four-Zero.
The senior from Kakhovka, a metropolis in southern Ukraine, had not performed effectively and with good motive. She walked to a close-by bench, buried her head in a towel and cried as coaches and teammates tried to console her.
Her tears mirrored occasions 5,000 miles away in her nation, now being brutally invaded by the Russian Military. Her father referred to as simply earlier than the match to inform her one in every of 1000’s of tragic tales being performed out throughout the Ukraine.
Her dad had pushed safely house on a street with Russians on both aspect. Ten minutes later, one in every of his pals was shot within the head whereas driving down the identical street.
That might have been my father, she stated to herself.
Did his good friend reside? She did not ask. He was shot within the head, so she presumes he’s lifeless.
Her household is hiding out in basements of two completely different homes. They’re speaking with Yuliia by way of the web.
“I simply hope the web would not shut down,” she stated.
They awoke one morning and crept upstairs and have been cooking breakfast when taking pictures broke out, so that they retreated again into the basement. The reference to Yuliia broke as they headed downstairs.
Solely later, after she acquired a textual content message from her father, did she know everybody was secure.
Her hometown was captured by the Russians the primary day of the invasion, then recaptured by Ukrainian troopers. However preventing stays intense.
The Russians didn’t carry sufficient provisions, she stated, and she or he worries what’s going to occur after they start foraging for meals.
“I hope they take meals and depart peacefully,” she stated.
ODU girls’s tennis coach Dominic Manilla hugs Yuliia Starodubtseva after Sunday’s victory
Yuliia recollects tales her mom instructed her of her nice grandmother hiding from German troops, who brutalized the Ukraine throughout World Battle II.
“I by no means thought that might occur once more in my nation,” she stated.
The Russian invasion has touched a nerve on each the ODU males’s and girls’s tennis groups. Each recruit closely abroad and girls’s coach Dominic Manilla, whose crew is ranked 22nd nationally, has had a pipeline to the Ukraine and different central European nations.
In 2019, 4 of his starters have been from the Ukraine.
Affiliate head coach Yana Sokolenko is from Minsk, Belarus, Ukraine’s northern neighbor.
Males’s coach Dominik Mueller is from Germany and in addition recruits in central Europe. Amongst his seniors is Yevhen Sirous, who’s from Kharkiv within the jap Ukraine. Kharkiv is the scene of door-to-door, city preventing.
His household moved from Kharkiv years in the past to a city near the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Lviv close to the Polish border. “I’m so completely satisfied that they’re secure,” he stated.
However his spouse, Daria, is sick with fear over her household, which is hiding in a bunker in Kharkiv.
His brother, an artist, is in Kiev, the nation’s capital, which is below siege by the Russian Military. It has held out for 4 days, for much longer than the Russians anticipated, American officers have stated.
His brother is sheltering within the metropolis’s subway system.
Yevhen and Yuliia say their coaches and teammates accomplished the whole lot they’ll to assist.
“ODU is sort of a household,” Yevhen stated. “I’ve gotten emails from former professors, from college students.
Yevhen Sirous
“My teammates have been so supportive. My coach instructed me that I do not need to apply, I do not need to play. He stated to take the time to handle myself.”
He took sooner or later off – to march in a protest in downtown Norfolk. He performed in matches this weekend. He gained his singles match on Saturday when the No. 45 Monarchs defeated Furman, Four-Zero, after which misplaced his match on Sunday when the Monarchs defeated Virginia Tech, Four-Three.
“At present you could possibly see he was emotional,” Mueller stated. “He had been enjoying very well. I believe he used tennis as a distraction.
“However at the moment I believe he ran out of emotional power. He lastly hit the wall.
“It is so powerful. I am unable to think about what he’s going by.
“I really feel like my gamers are additionally my youngsters. I care about them like they’re my youngsters. We’re a household.”
Yuliia stated she’s additionally obtained nothing however help from her coaches and teammates. Her teammates all arrived for Sunday’s match towards Penn with the Ukrainian flag painted on their faces or shoulders.
There have been a number of Ukrainian flags held by the 100 or so spectators.
Yuliia Khrystiuk, a member of the ladies’s soccer crew, got here with good friend Liana Mostrianska, each draped within the Ukrainian flag and sporting Ukrainian soccer shirts.
“We got here right here to help Yuliia,” Khrystiuk stated.
As a result of Russian troops staged assaults into the Ukraine from Belarus, Yana stated ODU’s three Belurusian gamers really feel some stage of guilt. It is not their fault, in fact.
Belarus is run by a dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, who was re-elected in 2020 in a vote that election screens stated was rigged in his favor. He’s professional Russian and has brutally repressed any dissent.
“They’re towards the repression in our nation,” Jana stated of the ODU gamers.
Yuliia Starodubtseva and Tatsiana Sasnouskaya
“This is not going to have an effect on us as a gaggle. This crew is simply too shut.”
Yuliia stated she would not blame the Belarusian individuals, nor even the Russians.
Greater than Three,000 Russians have been arrested for demonstrating towards the battle in Moscow and St. Petersburg, hometown of Vladimir Putin.
“I’ve Russian pals,” she stated. “They usually help me.
“I am grateful for the courageous individuals in Russia who’ve protested.”
She additionally has the help of Tatsiana Sasnouskaya, her doubles associate who can also be from Minsk, Belarus. It was Tatsiana who recommended the crew come out adorned in Ukrainian flags.
“I recognize a lot that it was her concept,” Yuliia stated.
Yuliia is heartened by what she has heard in regards to the bravery of her countrymen.
She recounted the story of a Ukrainian girl who confronted an armed Russian solider, asking him “What are you doing right here?” She instructed him to place sunflower seeds in his pocket in order that she may benefit from the sunflowers after he was killed and buried.
Yuliia teared up when telling the story about 13 Ukrainian sailors who when ordered to give up an island to a Russian ship, had a vulgar response. They replied to the Russians with an expletive after which have been all killed.
“They knew they have been going to die,” she stated. “How courageous are you able to be?”
Greater than 20,000 civilians have accepted gives to take up arms towards the Russians in Kiev. Yuliia stated she noticed a video of aged males asking for weapons in order that they may battle.
“Some have been hardly capable of stroll,” she stated. “They simply wish to assist. I am actually pleased with them. They are not scared. They simply wish to battle again.”
Once I interviewed Yuliia earlier final week, she stated she did not really feel particularly patriotic and she or he did not thoughts when individuals name her Russian – she and her household converse Russian at house, as do most individuals in jap Ukraine.
That modified after the invasion started. She now not needs to be referred to as a Russian. “And I’m so pleased with my nation,” she stated.
Russian can also be the language largely spoken in Kharkiv, however Yevhen stated he and his spouse determined this week to start talking solely Ukrainian. Most Ukrainians converse each Russian and Ukrainian.
“Ukraine is our nation,” he stated. “That is our tradition.
“The best way we’re feeling proper now, I am unable to even specific it.”
Yevhen stated he watched the official Russian information company and was horrified. Reporters are telling the Russian those that Ukrainians fired the primary photographs and that Russian troopers are preventing to guard themselves.
As for that island the place 13 Ukrainian sailors died, the Russian media stated 83 Ukrainians surrendered and went house peaceably, he stated.
“It made me sick to look at,” he stated.
Natalya Malenko, who was a senior on the 2019 ODU tennis crew, got here by the tennis middle Sunday to help Yuliia. She fears for her household as effectively.
“For my total life, my mom was the strongest particular person I do know,” she stated. “However to listen to her crying, to know she’s scared. You simply do not know what is going on to occur.
“My household has pals who picked up a gun and despatched us an image saying they will defend our nation. And we have not heard again from them since.”
Her household is making an attempt to flee the Ukraine, however she is aware of her uncle, who has a 12 yr previous daughter, cannot go together with them. All males between 18 and 60 are being conscripted into the Military.
Natalya Malenko
“It is heartbreaking,” she stated. “All of us put up a courageous face and attempt to snicker however then we come house and we do not sleep and we cry and wait and pray.”
All have been heartened by the world’s practically unanimous condemnation of Russia. The Eiffel Tower, Large Ben, the Empire State Constructing and a whole bunch of different buildings, together with the Wachovia Heart in downtown Norfolk, have been bathed in Ukraine’s nationwide colours.
Marches and protests have occurred from London to New York to Istanbul, however the largest occurred in Berlin Germany, the place greater than 100,000 individuals marched beneath the Brandenburg Gate, many carrying Ukrainian flags.
Germany introduced it’ll ship 500 stinger missiles and 1,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. Beforehand, due to its darkish historical past throughout World Battle II, Germany had by no means supplied deadly weapons to any nation aside from Israel.
Poland and different jap European nations are offering sanctuary to Ukrainians escaping the battle. NATO agreed on Saturday to limit Russia’s entry to financial institution funds.
Manilla talked to his crew Saturday and challenged them to attempt to be a part of a era that adjustments the world.
“I instructed them if the president of Russian and the president of the Ukraine have been girls, this may not have occurred,” he stated. “I instructed them the world wants a era of individuals such as you as a result of our era has messed issues up.”
Once I interviewed Yuliia Saturday afternoon, Manilla cried whereas she recounted the experiences of her household.
That, my pals, is how a lot he cares about Yuliia.
Yuliia Starodubtseva
Yuliia was centered and able to play Sunday afternoon. Her singles opponent was Iuliia Bryzgalova, a local of Moscow, Russia. Yuliia gained simply, 6-Three, 6-Zero, and drew a standing ovation from the gang.
“She was very respectful,” Yuliia stated of Bryzgalova. As for the Ukrainian flags, “I instructed her to not take it personally. She stated, ‘Don’t be concerned, I perceive why this was taking place.
“She was very respectful and understanding, which I appreciated.”
Yuliia stated she doesn’t know the place she can be with out the help of her coaches and teammates. She calls Manilla her substitute father and Yana her substitute mom.
“This crew is my household in America,” she stated.
Her household in Ukraine is secure for now, she stated Sunday. They stocked up on meals earlier than the preventing started.
Yevhen is fearful a couple of younger good friend of his within the Ukrainian Military.
“I texted him and he did not get again to me instantly,” he stated. “I used to be so fearful. However then he responded.
“He appears to be like 15 or 16. Once I see him in a uniform with a gun, it is loopy. I am unable to think about how sturdy he’s. He stated, ‘we’ll battle.’ He was smiling at me.
“I’ve by no means been so pleased with my nation, of my individuals. They’re assured. They’re making jokes. They’re so sturdy.
“If they are often that sturdy, then we have to be sturdy right here, too.”
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