Student Athlete's Journey from Russia to Love

For a young athlete, summer is a special time. Passion for a sport grows easily and most often when school is out, at camps and on playgrounds, or simply through a carefree game of catch in the backyard on a warm afternoon.

But for Mira Costa High quarterback Dennis Falcone, it's the winter that he points to as the defining time in his childhood. 

It was on a February day nine years ago that Dennis and his younger brother Oleg boarded an airplane in Russia, not knowing why or where they were headed. "It was a little scary. We didn't know what was going on and the past two years we had been moving around so much,'' Dennis said. ''We had to just go with it.''

To that point, that had been life for Dennis and Oleg. The brothers had been placed in an orphanage when Dennis was 7 years old and Oleg was five. Their mother was unable to provide proper care for them and the two boys battled the cold and persistent hunger on a daily basis.

Once placed in the care of orphanages they bounced around Tver County, the largest region in central Russia, for two years without a place to call home.

As is the case for many non-infant children adoption can be very difficult, and it was doubly tough for Falcone and his younger brother.

The organization Kidsave International brings children between the ages of 8 and 13 to the United States, where they stay with host families for five weeks with the potential that they will find a new family. Dennis and Oleg arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, but their host, realizing perhaps the responsibilities of caring for two young children who spoke no English, backed out of the commitment.

The children needed a new place to stay, and quickly.

It was then that a call to Sioux Falcone would begin a journey for not only the boys, but for Sioux and her husband Angelo, all of them on the road to forming a family.

Family ties

"I was doing my student teaching in Culver City and received a call from a teaching mentor of mine who was participating in the program and described their desperate situation," Sioux said.

When Angelo returned home from work later that day, Sioux sat him down and poured him a glass of wine. She told him that they needed to talk.

"I thought I was in trouble. We had been married for just over a year and I didn't know what was coming," Angelo recalls with a laugh.

The couple, who had no children and had been entertaining the idea of adoption, decided to host the two boys who were coming in literally with the clothes on their backs and nothing else.

"Once they came home they pretty much ate non-stop. I've never seen children eat like that -- all the fruit they could muster, eating onions like apples. I was going to the store every day," Sioux said.

The children, who didn't speak English and were not fully aware of the situation, would stash fruit under their beds not knowing what the next day would bring.

"It was freaky moving place to place like we were and not really knowing who these people were, but we just started to think of it like having new friends and then just grew closer," Dennis said.

"I came home one day and Sioux was on the bed watching television with the boys, one on each side of her kissing her cheeks, I knew right there that they weren't going to be leaving," Angelo said with a wide smile.

After spending more than a month with the Falcones, Dennis and Oleg were brought back to Russia and the adoption process was set in motion. Angelo and Sioux traveled to Russia to pick the boys up and bring them back to their home in Torrance.

The Falcones' are an upbeat, positive couple and create a light atmosphere with their infectious laughter when recalling their families' story. The immense undertaking of bringing two boys into unfamiliar surroundings, unequipped with anything but the most basic of communication skills, cannot be understated.  That warmth rubbed off on their older son.

Dennis tells many stories with a smile that belies their context. 

"Back in Russia, I actually learned to ride a bike with no handlebars, it just didn't have any so that's what I did," Dennis said. 

More challenges

School was not easy early on, as the lack of English and the boys' timidity made for a steep learning curve. 

"I just sat in class pretty much and didn't say anything, wanted to just be kind of invisible. It was so different, I had no idea what was going on," Dennis said.

By the time Dennis reached the fifth grade, he was proficient in English, but still had a strong accent and was teased by classmates. While he had friends, school was still not a comfortable environment.

"I thought it would be important for the boys to start playing some sports, just to get exposed to some new things and get acclimated and make new friends," Angelo said.

Dennis started with basketball. "He was absolutely clueless out there to begin with, but then he started picking it up and got into tennis and other sports," Sioux said.

In the seventh grade Dennis wanted to try football, which would end up becoming his favorite.

"I just loved throwing the ball around and I was really interested in the sport, so I tried out and it was so much fun competing with other kids and knowing I had some ability," Dennis said.

After continuing to learn the sport and realizing that quarterback was the position that he wanted to play, he began his prep career at Bishop Montgomery in Torrance.

During his freshman season, Dennis spent most of the game on his back as a lackluster offensive line forced him to make a quick drop and, as he described it, "throw a Hail Mary on every play then get hit."

The Falcones moved and Dennis began attending Mira Costa during his sophomore year, where he joined the Mustangs and their tradition-rich program.

"From the first couple days at Mira Costa, I was just so encouraged by all the coaches who were doing such a great job and I just thought to myself 'this is my time to shine' and I just kept at it," Dennis said.

Dennis' thirst for learning and passion for the quarterback position led him and Angelo to create a website, prepqb.com, geared toward offering young quarterbacks resources for improving their play and learning the position from every angle.

"It was launched a couple months ago and it would be really cool if it can grow and we can help out as many people as possible with it," Dennis said.

As the summer heats up, so will the competition for the starting spot at quarterback – he is competing with Dalton Crawford and Christian Rogers.

But one thing is for certain as Dennis embarks on his quest to replace two-year starter Kyle Demarco. He won't get rattled.

"Dennis is so even-keeled.  He had so much adversity early in his life I just think he matured so quickly and as a result of everything he has the proper perspective and temperament to deal with the ups and downs of football," Sioux said.

Asked about the challenges ahead, Dennis just smiled. "I'm not too worried about anything, I love to play and I think I can handle whatever comes at me," he said.

That makes sense - playing quarterback is easy when compared to riding a bike without any handle bars.