Madeline Strasburg gets mobbed after blasting a home run. (John Fisken photos)
Getting stretched with Kacie Kiel.
Afraid of the camera? Not likely.
Pursuing a second career as a paparazzi.
She is big time. Every time.
Coupeville High School senior Madeline Strasburg, AKA Maddie Big Time, earned that nickname by being at her best when it counted the most.
Feisty as all get out, hilarious, a vocal leader who thumped her teammates on the back in joy at times, and pulled them close and whispered quietly in their ear at others, she is like a walking, talking burst of pure energy.
I have covered a lot of athletes in 25 years of on-again, off-again sports coverage on Whidbey, but Maddie is in the 1% of the most electrifying I have witnessed on a daily basis.
Some athletes hum along, calm and serene, at the same level at all times.
That is not Strasburg.
During her remarkable three-sport (volleyball, basketball, softball) career at CHS, she hit huge lows and huge highs.
When she hit those lows, when she got good and pissed, is when she came flying back like few other Wolves ever have, or ever will.
When that look dropped on her face, you knew butt-whuppin’ time was comin’.
Elbow her? Knee her? Try and make her look bad?
She would crack you in half and then fly by, her glare o’ death replaced by the biggest smile you could possibly imagine.
Last year, during her junior basketball season, she did something I have never seen another high school athlete do.
Right at the tail end of the third quarter, she stole the ball, spun and fired up a buzzer-beater from almost half court that banked off the glass and dropped in.
Cue the Maddie dance to the bench, where she high-fived all of her teammates, her coaches and any spectators wandering by, regardless of whether she knew them or not.
So, great shot. It happens.
Except…
The Wolves then went on winter break and didn’t play another game for almost two weeks.
First game back, end of the third quarter, same time, same place … Maddie Big Time steals the ball, spins, fires from the same freakin’ spot on the court and banks in another buzzer-beater, then runs off screaming like a woman gone wild.
Two impossible shots, from the same place, the same angle, the same moment in the game … two weeks apart.
Damn.
Of course, it wasn’t just basketball.
She would jack home runs over the fence in softball, then spend time on defense hanging out in center field talking (loudly) to herself (and left fielder Haley Sherman, if she wandered too close), keeping up a running commentary on life.
Fearless as an athlete, and one of the quickest to embrace each and every chance to have her photo taken, Miss Strasburg has been a God-send for Coupeville Sports.
As she celebrates a birthday today, the future is limitless for this one.
In the words of John Locke on Lost, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!!”
I fully believe Maddie will accomplish whatever she desires.
If she doesn’t want to do it, no amount of nagging will get her to change her mind.
But, if she wants something, she will go after it like a heat-seeking missile and woe unto those who are stupid enough to try and stop her.
She is whip smart, she is kind and caring and she has the heart of a lion.
Will she play ball in college? Will she become a coach herself one day (I think she’d be awesome at it)?
Or, will she throw everything away and travel the world, sporting dreadlocks and spreading the gospel of Maddie Big Time to the farthest reaches of the known world, her exuberant laugh trailing her?
Whatever she does, however she does it, she is going to be a huge, raging success. Of this I have no doubt.
And we’ll all look back, one day, and say, we were there at the beginning of the legend.
We were lucky enough to witness a young woman of great talent, grace and style rise up and begin to claim her place.
We were all witnesses to Maddie Big Time, and it was a lot of fun.
