THE FRONT ROW with BRUCE BOURQUIN, Aug. 8, 2014
A long-distance friendship nearly 10 years in the making was reunited on Tuesday, when North Idaho Christian School girls basketball head coach Jerry Bittner met a familiar face, half a world away, along with her 10-year-old daughter.
DASHA KUSHENKO, who is a fourth-grade rhythmic gymnast from Irkutsk, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia with a population of 587,891, has been staying with Bittner and his wife of 36 years, Chrystal, in Post Falls. Kushenko and her mother, Liana Kushenko, who is a regional sales representative with Colgate Palmolive, are planning on staying in Post Falls until Aug. 18.
"She is a girl that I sent Christmas packages to each Christmas and her dream was to visit me someday," Bittner said.
In 2004, Liana was sent by Nestle, her company in Russia, to work as a business intern with Alaska Commercial Company, the largest rural retailer in Alaska, where Bittner was a Chief Operating Officer at the time. During the past decade, Bittner and Liana kept in touch via email and letters.
By coincidence, Bittner and the younger Kushenko have the same birthday, April 18.
"I was pregnant with Dasha at the time," Liana Kushenko said. "I was an intern with Jerry's company as part of IREX."
Liana's work was part of an exchange program through the U.S. State Department, via the International Research and Exchange Board, which according to its Website "is an international nonprofit organization that provides thought leadership and innovative programs to promote positive lasting change globally."
Irkutsk is also home to Lake Baikal, the biggest freshwater lake in the world in terms of volume and depth at 5,387 feet, and the city is the third busiest in terms of amount of tourists in Russia, behind Moscow and St. Petersburg. Just a bit of trivia for you.
RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS involves individuals or teams of five who manipulate one or two pieces of te following: clubs, hoop, ball, ribbon, rope and free, or no item. An individual athlete only manipulates one item at a time.
On April 10, at a regional competition, Kushenko finished third out of a group of 30 competitors. On Dec. 8-10, in a city event, she placed second out of 25 competitors. Both were in Irkutsk. She has been in the sport since she was 5 and won her first competition.
"I understand that everything was not in vain," Dasha Kushenko said. "I need to train more, but I felt I deserved this (placing)."
Liana said in terms of overall ability, Dasha competed with the strongest girls, and not everyone got to compete. Dasha was in level 'B', and level 'A' is the highest.
"It's very difficult to win when some of the girls are much better than her at this point
Dasha practices for nearly three or four hours every day at the Baikal Arena in Irkutsk, where rhythmic gymnast Daria Dmitrieva, who was the silver medalist in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
And of course, Dasha stayed up a little late to watch her hometown hero take home the silver, and Dasha has watched Dmitrieva and other top-flight gymnasts practice in person. Dmitrieva, who is also known as Dasha, called Kushenko "Little Dasha." Naturally, Kushenko wants to one day compete in the Olympics. She will be 15 when the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan come around.
"When we watched the great gymnasts, we took into consideration what they do," Dasha said. "We admire Daria and all the other gymnasts. Of course (I want to be an Olympian one day), but I don't dream, I do all my best for it."
DASHA HAS already enjoyed parts of north Idaho. Bittner plans on showing her and her mother places like Spokane, Silverwood Theme Park, Priest Lake, Sandpoint, the beaches along Lake Coeur d'Alene, North Idaho College and of course, Dasha will watch a few gymnasts in Kootenai County and she'll attend some of the North Idaho Christian varsity girls basketball practices at the school's gym.
During each Christmas for the past 10 years, the Bittners have sent various gifts, including North Idaho Christian warmup suits that Kushenko has worn to her gymnastics practices in Russia.
"We were in the garage (of my home), she was already dribbling between her legs and behind her back," Bittner said of Dasha, who has never played basketball. "She's an athlete. She spent less time doing that than girls I work with in two or three weeks."
There are already various fun things Kushenko has done in the local area as well.
"She got to drive a golf cart for the first time," Bittner said of Dasha's time spent at the Highlands Golf Course in Post Falls, near the Bittners' home. "She got to putt on a golf course."
And of course, the nice green trees in Idaho, where in Russia in some places they have been cut down.
"Dasha likes that you have untouched forests," Liana said. "There are unchopped trees, because in Russia, it's a very big problem. We have a very similar nature. Unfortunately, we have ecological problems, and Dasha is very interested in this point. When she looked out of a train in Russia, she was crying, she pitied all the trees. She likes how the people don't grow vegetables, like Russians like to do."
So Kushenko will no doubt head back to Russia with some great memories of north Idaho and other places, thanks in part to a girls basketball coach.
Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013 or via e-mail at bbourquin@cdapress.com and via Twitter @bourq25