(Story and photo courtesy of Austin College Athletics Department)
SHERMAN, Texas - On February 21, 2014, the Austin College women's tennis team took the court against Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. It was an early season match, with the 'Roos squaring off against a non-conference opponent during a road trip that would also see them take on Southeastern Oklahoma and Rhodes.
The 'Roos fell to the Warriors 7-2, with one of those two victories for Austin College coming in number one doubles. The pairing of Sophie McDonald and Anamariia Kheveli earned a hard fought 9-7 win, noteworthy for Kheveli since it was the first collegiate victory of the then-freshman's career.
Of course, the day would be more memorable for Kheveli, and for her family, for much different reasons. Nearly 6,000 miles away, in Kheveli's home country of Ukraine, unrest had begun. A revolution began throughout Ukraine just three days prior to that day's Austin College tennis match, on February 18. It would last through February 23, a precursor to the civil war that still engulfs Kheveli's home today.
Protests began after Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, with the Ukrainian capital of Kiev becoming occupied by the country's citizens. When the dust cleared, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had been ousted from office, the Ukrainian parliament voting on February 22 that he was no longer fit to fulfill his duties.
Through all of the turmoil back in Ukraine and, specifically, her home city of Lugansk, Kheveli tried to remain focused on school, and on tennis. Making things more difficult was the unreliability of the media, trying to cover a massive news story from halfway around the world.
"I wouldn't get the correct information about my country or what's going on back home," said Kheveli, who first came to the United States as an exchange student for her senior year of high school. "They'd be reporting that the US was helping Ukraine, that the Russians were bombarding Ukraine. But the Russians and Ukrainian government both were bombing innocent people."
And when that bombing started, her family was immediately – and directly – a victim. Her house was bombed, with a shell falling into her home and tearing it apart. When the bombings first started, shells dropped right next to her home as well. Fortunately, her brothers and her parents, Lev and Marika, were unharmed.
"My family had to hide in the restroom," said the Austin College junior. "Our apartment was on the fifth floor, and the restroom is the only safe place. So my family packed, and there were soldiers all around the streets, screaming for everybody to stay safe and hide because of the aircraft dropping bombs."
Meanwhile, Kheveli could only stay patient, waiting to hear from her parents and her two younger brothers in the aftermath.
"I was contacting my family as much as possible so that I knew everything," said Kheveli. "I didn't watch the news, because the media can just make everything worse."
These days, she tries to stay in touch with her family as much as possible, texting them daily and talking to them via Skype or FaceTime three or four times per week. Of course, from time to time she's been unable to reach them due to poor connections, leaving her to imagine the worst.
"It would freak me out," she said. "I had the worst thoughts in my mind, but I tried to stay positive. Both of my parents are smart and responsible people, and they'd do everything possible to get my siblings out of the city."
Being an international student has its share of difficulties to begin with, as well. Kheveli came to the United States after being one of only about 100 students from across her home nation to be selected for the Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX), which covers all expenses and places exchange students with families in America.
Kheveli never expected to land in Texas, though, and amazingly never found out that's where she'd be spending her senior year until the day she left for the United States. She and the other participants in FLEX weren't told where they'd be going, but fortunately, Kheveli's host family texted her and she was able to piece together where she was headed.
"I was like a spy," Kheveli smiled. "I saw the area code and searched it, and figured out I was going to Texas."
Naturally, her first thoughts were of cowboys, horses, deserts, and in general being out in the middle of nowhere.
"It was a culture shock, mixed with not knowing about Texas," she said. "It was very different from what I grew up with and where I'm from – especially the food. There's more fast food, as opposed to the organic, farm-raised food I grew up with."
At first, Kheveli – who describes herself as outgoing and very social – had a bit of a tough time fitting in, as the outsider from Ukraine at Denison High. Though her accent is hardly noticeable now, she said that when she first arrived it was much thicker, and she had a tougher time with English grammar and syntax. And it turns out, people had just as many misconceptions about where she'd come from as she'd had about Texas, including being referred to as "Russian" from people who hadn't realized that Ukraine had become its own independent nation.
Having grown up playing tennis in Lugansk, competing at the regional and national level in her home country, she joined the Denison High team for the 2012-2013 academic year and competed at number four and five singles, and number three doubles. Joining the tennis team enabled her to get more comfortable being away from home, and she formed a strong bond with her teammates. She also had strong support from her host family, who she enjoyed teaching about Ukrainian culture, foods, and traditions.
Continuing her tennis career beyond Denison High was more difficult, of course, because of how tricky it can be for international students to find the money to attend an American college. Many scholarships are only available to American citizens, and the same is true of FAFSA.
Still, Kheveli came to Austin College and started her tennis career, and has leaned on her teammates, her coach, and the sport itself to get her through the trying times facing her family back home.
"Staying focused was the hardest," said Kheveli. "The classes require you to stay focused. Tennis requires you to eliminate distractions and stay focused on the game. I had a hard time doing that. I'd come to the court in a really bad mood, but once I saw my teammates were there for me and supported me no matter what, it helped."
Kheveli admits that she's had thoughts of leaving school and returning home to Ukraine to be with her family, but both her friends and family helped her understand that it's better for her to remain safe in the United States, receiving her education, and continuing to pursue a career.
"Coach [Ryan] Dodd helped me so much," she said. "I would go to him crying, telling him I'm not sure I'm able to keep doing it. But he let me know that whatever decision I made, he and the team were there for me."
The last time Kheveli saw her family was last winter, though that wasn't in Ukraine. She hasn't been back to her home country since the summer between her freshman and sophomore years – just prior to the escalation from revolution, to civil war.
And now, while she awaits a decision on her application for asylum, she can't leave the country to go home and see her parents and her brothers. There's simply no guarantee she'd be able to reenter the United States to finish her education at Austin College if she did.
"Especially with the conflict in Syria, and a lot of Syrian refugees coming to the United States, my case is probably sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting for its turn," she said.
Given all that she and her family have been through, it might not surprise you to learn that Kheveli is an International Relations major. However, that was a decision she'd made well before the unrest began in Ukraine.
"My dad has always been my role model," said Kheveli of her father, who has been involved in politics throughout her life. "I love politics and getting to know different countries and how they function. I took several courses when I got to Austin College, and was dead set on being a pre-law and International Relations major."
Kheveli's passion for politics has also led to her involvement with Model UN – an organization she's involved with again this spring, and which has twice taken her to New York City to get a better understanding of the United Nations and how it functions. Her dream is to ultimately work at the UN and become an ambassador.
Believe it or not, this isn't even her family's first civil war. After she was born in the nation of Georgia, civil war broke out there, leading her family to move to Ukraine in the first place. There, her family found a close community in Lugansk.
"Lugansk is beautiful," said Kheveli. "People are so friendly, and it's really one community. Everybody knows and supports each other. Nobody would think that my city, and the part of Ukraine where I live, would be at the center of this conflict. It shocked me."
Despite it all, Kheveli maintains a high level of success on the tennis court as well as in the classroom. Last spring she was named to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll, and has also been a SCAC All-Tournament Team selection.
"I'm so grateful for tennis," she said. "It's been a part of my life, but it's also been my distraction. It helps me to not think about the negativity, and when I play, all of my anger and frustration can come out."
