Toasted Marshmallow morphs into Turtle Shell, as McKayla Bailey (in white) goes all WWE on her foe in a battle for a loose ball last season. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
Madeline Strasburg doesn’t have an off switch.
That was one of many little pieces of info I picked up Monday after watching David and Amy King run their Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad through a two-hour practice.
Strasburg, a sophomore who is expected to bounce between varsity and JV action this season — at least in the early going — out-raced, out-shot and out-hopped all comers as she never stopped moving during the session.
At the end of a 10-minute torture routine, where the players navigated the length of the court repeatedly, running, sliding and bouncing around a series of cones, while the electronic game clock mocked them and music pounded out of the speakers, there were players in pain. Players out of breath. Players desperately trying to hang on — while probably contemplating punching those of us not doing the obstacle course — and then there was Strasburg.
While many other players like Breeanna Messner and Wynter Thorne never slowed down, either, also admirably leaving it all on the court, Strasburg went through the final minute with a particular ferociousness, hopping her final cones in a frenzy, stamping her feet emphatically, then going on to coolly drain her free-throws just moments later, all while encouraging fellow shooter Julia Felici and swapping tales of homework with Kacie Kiel.
The Cascade Conference coaches may not think much about the Wolves — picking them to finish last in the eight-team league — but they obviously haven’t seen Strasburg, who is coming for their fancy-pants teams, all guns blazing.
Other tidbits:
1) Haley Marx and Bessie Walstad were voted team captains by their fellow players. Appropriate choices, with both players having been strong leaders in the past.
I have rarely seen a player of her talent so effortlessly spread the acclaim to her teammates, and I hope people appreciate what Walstad has brought to all three of her sports (volleyball, basketball, softball) for the past four seasons. When Wolf fans talk about her years from now — and they will — she will be remembered as one of the best to grace these playing fields.
2) Despite a belief earlier in his career that he would never put a freshman on the varsity squad, David King has changed that viewpoint, and Wolf frosh Makana Stone, who has height, speed and a soft touch around the basket, will join Walstad and Co. in the big show.
3) Assistant coaches (and former Wolf superstars) Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby and Brittany Black can still ball, even in their mid-to-late 20’s. Plus, both remain eternally youthful-looking, so, if things get dicey against ATM, maybe slip them a uniform and let them bust out a few old school, state tournament-worthy moves… Yes? No? Yes?
4) Having heard about senior Rhiannon Ellsworth’s painful recovery from ACL surgery that cost her all of last season, it was heartening to see her run effortlessly, holding her own with speed demons like Stone and Strasburg.
5) The Wolves are gym rats, with close to half the team staying after practice to shoot around and/or work on parts of their game, whether it be Amanda Fabrizi popping shot after shot or Monica Vidoni working with assistant Ashley Kellison on low-post moves. Last one out of the gym? Messner.
6) And, finally, the story of Turtle Shell.
Last year, during her freshman season, McKayla Bailey, a ferocious pitcher on the softball mound, was playing a bit tentatively on the hard court, King said. So, he named her “Marshmallow.” Once she stepped up and started taking some hits, he changed it to “Toasted Marshmallow.”
Then, late in the season, Bailey absorbed a major collision that rattled her. As King, the JV coach at the time, was checking on her, he stopped and smiled.
“You’re not a toasted marshmallow anymore. You’re a tough player now. You’re Turtle Shell.”
So, in the end, what did I take away from this practice? King has a team of Turtle Shells, young women who bust their butts in practice, young women who are going to surprise some people.
When they finally get their first home game (Friday, Dec. 14 against South Whidbey in the 6th game of the season), I expect all of Coupeville to be there to root them on. After the effort they put out, you can’t sit on the (admittedly rock-hard) bleachers for a few hours, you pampered fancy lad?
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