Meat and dairy are prohibited on Wednesdays and Fridays. And the opening of the 2017 football season coincided in the Julian calendar with a two-week period of dietary restrictions, when fish was also mostly excluded, ahead of the Feast of the Assumption.

Work, too, was viewed by many as more urgent — and far more lucrative — than sports. Nikit Martushev, 17, a senior, had played tackle as a freshman, but he resisted entreaties to rejoin the team. He had been a boat captain since he was 14, and while football players expectantly awaited a game, he planned to go long-lining for cod. Soon, he would be moose hunting.

“I wanted time for myself,” Martushev said. “With football, I had no time to do anything else.”

While many in Voznesenka appreciated the value of teamwork in sports, some feared that football players risked serious injury, which could disrupt their livelihoods. Or that athletes would pursue empty hopes of college or professional careers.

“I don’t think it’s possible here. Who knows?” said Anisia White, a village elder and a bilingual tutor at Voznesenka School. “They could end up without anything.”

But Nikit Anufriev wanted to give it a shot. At times, he was the only player to lift weights at Zank’s house after practice. Sometimes he ran in a weighted vest in the morning before school.

“People say, ‘Don’t go to college; you’re not going to get anywhere, it’s a waste of time,’” Anufriev said. “But I want to try something new. To see the world is a big thing.”

At the wrestling camp, it felt electric to be around athletes who had the same passion he had. Months later, he had reached the 2016 Alaska state wrestling semifinals. A scholarship seemed newly possible. He had begun researching small colleges in the Midwest.