The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

METLAKATLA, Alaska-A documentary set to premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in April follows a familiar face throughout Southeast Alaska, documenting a glowing basketball team and the ups and downs of rural island life.

Alaskan Nets focuses on former Waitsburg-Prescott basketball coach TJ Scott and the Metlakatla Chiefs basketball team.

Metlakatla, located on Annette Island, is the only Native Reserve in the State of Alaska. Located 20 miles south of Ketchikan, the community has a population of roughly 1,500 people. A truly unique community, new residents require 'approval' from the tribal leaders in order to move there. Like many communities in Southeast Alaska, Metlakatla relies on the fishing and tourism industries to thrive.

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 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 5 in the morning and then take a ferry to Haines, which is a six-hour ferry," Scott said. "We play Friday and Saturday, and we ferry back Sunday and fly back to Ketchikan, and we are home by Monday night. And that's only a league game. It's a five-day trip for two games, and that's pretty common."

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. Metlakatla's basketball season runs roughly four months, compared to Washington's three-month season, to help accommodate travel time.

"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 that an independent journalist asked if he could follow the team for a month, photographing games and practices. The final essay, which was reported on and photographed by Samuel Wilson, was featured online by ESPN, and was later 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 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. The lucrative industry he refers to is commercial fishing, which many youth in Southeast Alaska partake in. "It was this unbelievable intersection for a super-compelling story."

Harasimowicz approached Scott, asking if anyone had documented his story, or if he would be interested in having the story told. A couple of trips to the community, some introductions, and a Tribal Council approval later, Alaskan Nets kicked off filming, getting a true, behind-the-scenes glimpse at Alaska Native culture and community, Southeast Alaska lifestyle, and basketball.

"I don't know if fate is the right word, but everything that could have happened in this film, from a storytelling perspective, happened," Harasimowicz said. "Not to spoil anything, but this community relies heavily on the fishing industry, which is a very dangerous industry, and we saw that first hand with the film."

The crew got very close with the athletes and the community, forming what Harasimowicz described as a family-like bond, and the dangerous reality of the fishing industry was even harder for the crew to come to terms with.

On that note, however, Harasimowicz said that it was an incredible experience, watching the Metlakatla Chiefs, who have been gunning for a State basketball championship for more than 30 years, navigate the ups and downs that they did.

Alaskan Nets was directed by Harasimowicz, and produced by Harasimowicz and Ryan Welch.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicks off on March 31, but the program for the 2021 festival was not available at the time the newspaper went to print. The Festival is offering a virtual experience this year, just visit their website to purchase tickets, http://www.sbiff.org. A complete film line up will be available later this month.