Imagine traveling nearly 6,000 miles away from home in order to continue your decade-long passion as well as your education. Imagine traveling to a country where the traditions and customs are different than the ones you are used to. Imagine facing language barriers in order to succeed in a learning environment.

Now add in tennis practice, games and meetings into your schedule.

This may seem like an unrealistic imagination for some, but for five players and two coaches of the Sacramento State tennis teams, it is not imaginary.

Katrina Zheltova, Tatsiana Kapshai, Maria Meliuk, Kiryl Harbatsiuk and Anton Stryhas all decided to follow the women’s head coach Dima Hrynashka and the men’s head coach Slava Konikov from Belarus to play for Sac State.

Zheltova said it was difficult being a Belarusian and adjusting to the American lifestyle.”It is hard. It’s a different culture. Different people. Also learning a second language has been hard,” Zheltova said. “I mean, now it has been four years since I’ve been here. Of course it is easier but I am still closer to my country. I was born there and my whole family is there. I miss it.”

Meliuk said it was difficult to adjust to American lifestyle.

“It is tough because Americans are very different from Belarusians,” Meliuk said. “Our conditions, culture, the way we talk, the way we do things, everything is completely different. So I am still trying to adjust. I have still not gotten used to it.”

Every player said that family plays a huge role in the lives of many Belarus natives and one thing that they missed about Belarus is their family.

Harbatsiuk, who is ranked 40th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association men’s tennis singles rankings, said his family misses him but they know there are great opportunities for him here in America.

“They miss me of course, but I know that they are proud of me because I am here,” Harbatsiuk said. “I am not on the streets, I am doing something with my life. I am a student. I am an athlete. So they are proud of me.”

Belarus has had some notable tennis players over the years, including Max Mirnyi, Olga Govortsova and Vladimir Voltchkov, despite it not being a primary sport in the country.Even though tennis is becoming a popular sport in Belarus, it still is not properly funded and many of the expenses fall on the family of the players.

Meliuk explained how difficult it is for a young player in Belarus.

“We don’t have many good coaches and there are not many opportunities to practice,” Meliuk said. “Our parents have to pay for all the trips, all the tournaments that we travel to, all of the practices for taking the courts, for everything. It is just so expensive. Our country is not privileged. So for poor people, it is really tough.”

Harbatsiuk said he likes America because anyone can come here in order to better themselves and their family.

All of the players said after their families, tennis plays the No. 1 role in their lives.Kapshai said tennis is important to her.

“The first place in my life is tennis, that’s all I do. It is all I have done for the last 11 years. I practice almost all the time, so it is practically whole life outside of family” Kapshai said.Tennis is the most important thing to Meliuk, she said.

“I think tennis is everything to me because I have been playing since I was 8 and I played tennis almost every day,” Meliuk said. “I travel and I usually hang out with tennis players. Here in America it is a bit different because I have an opportunity to hang out with other people, but back in Belarus it was mainly tennis players. So basically, tennis is me and I am tennis.”

Konikov said the men’s tennis team is a diverse group of players who all work well together.

“The connection between Sac State and Belarus is fine,” Konikov said. “We bring in good guys, good players from all over the world. Most of the players come from Belarus, like Anton and Kiryl. We have a couple of guys from the United States, like Jason Smith, he was top 10 in the United States. We also have a player from Croatia as well, he is pretty good. Everybody on the tennis team works hard and plays well.”

As for the players, completing school is the main goal for all of them and many would like to continue their careers.

“I want to do something with tennis,” Zheltova said. “That is how I will live the rest of my life. I want to try playing professionally and if not that then I will be teaching and coaching tennis.”

Stryhas said he would like to finish off the season strong but the most important thing to him is continuing his education and getting a career.

“I want to finish my bachelor’s degree; that is the priority,” Stryhas said. “Finish the season, I want to win the conference and I want to go to the Nationals as well. Do our best as a team and as individuals as well. For further future I will try to get my master’s in business and try to get a job. Oh, and professional tennis as well, that is one of the options.”

Jules Ramzy can be reached at [email protected]