Flemouth – About a month ago, Marina Bilonozko was hiding in a bomb shelter as Kyiv was being attacked by Russian invaders.
Now, thanks to the kindness of a Cape tennis coach, Bilonozko is preparing to take his son, Timur Alalin, 16, a talented golfer to the West Coast, where he will join the Northern California Junior Golf Association.
It was Kevin Peace, who runs a tennis school in Falmouth, paving the way for a new life in the United States.
While Bilonozko was taking refuge in Kyiv, she received an email from Peace. He reached out to several tennis professionals in Ukraine, including Bilonozko, hoping to help in some way.
“I am a tennis professional, and I consider it a community around the world, and anyone who is a global tennis coach or an ITF coach, you know, we are relatives. I just arrived, that’s how it started, “said Peace.
Athletes as relative spirits
Pease requested Bilonozko to travel to the United States because he had an international visa. Bilonozko did not think of leaving Kyiv, where his whole life was centered.
While she was taking refuge, her son was in Turkey, where he was participating in a golf tournament. Alalin is a top golfer in Ukraine. His mother is a former professional tennis player and current tennis coach.
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Pease’s encouragement led Bilonozko to embark on a long and challenging journey that would take him and his son to a war-torn country and Cape Cod, where they would have the opportunity to make a fresh start.
From Turkey, Allen went to Sofia, Bulgaria, where he stayed with a friend. Bilonozko traveled by train to visit his son. Once they met, they went to Bucharest together. “Traveling by train was scary at the time because the trains were so crowded, and the destinations were constantly changing,” Alalin told the Cape Cod Times.
On Facebook, Bilonozko met an American man giving his airline miles to needy Ukrainians.
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The couple flew from Bucharest to Frankfurt, Germany, then outside DC to Dulles International Airport and finally to Logan International in Boston, where Peace picked them up and brought them to Cape.
The leap of faith for the Cape Code
Peace did not know its guests, but all were ready to leapfrog: Peace helps strangers in difficult situations, and Alalin and Bilonozko rely on a stranger from a different country.
“I know that if I were in that situation, I would expect someone to approach me and say, ‘Hey, how are you? Do you need any help?’ “Peace,” he said.
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Allin was given a warm welcome by the Cape Coders.
“It’s all good. Very nice people, very nice, always smiling. Everyone is happy, everyone says hi to you. It’s like this, I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
Since they arrived, Allyn and her mother have received gift cards for groceries and clothing. Some locals have even taken Alalin Golfing and gifted him with a gift.
“All of your gifts are real help and support, as well as an expression of care for us,” Bilonozko wrote in a text message to the Times.
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Where’s the golf?
Hoping to find a place to play golf, Alalin wrote to the top 50 golf clubs in the states.
David Leadbater, a top golf instructor, contacted Allyn with Mike Morland, president of the Northern California Junior Golf Association. Moreland is going to give Alalin and his mother a place to live and will ask Allin to take part in the association golf tournaments. Bilonozko may be looking for a job as a tennis coach in California.
He is expected to leave the Cape on Monday.
Mom and son are games for what’s next.
“The story of the war is another story,” Bilonozko wrote. Our journey lasted 2 weeks, 3 days … and here we are, after a long adventure with some small bags and minimal money, we are ready to start. Our life from the beginning, from the beginning. But we are athletes, we will definitely fight it. ”