Valen Trujillo: The Woman, the Myth, the Legend. (John Fisken photos)
What can we say about Valen Trujillo?
A lot, and all of it good.
The Coupeville High School senior, who celebrates a birthday today, has been as important as any athlete to the growth and success of Coupeville Sports.
She goes on a very small list, with people like Makana Stone, McKayla and McKenzie Bailey, Caleb Valko and Nick Streubel, for the impact they have had over the four years I’ve yammered away on this blog.
Miss Trujillo was an 8th grader when I first met her, a basketball fiend who made rival players cry and then came up into the stands afterward to thank me for attending her games.
Over the past four years, she has shown herself to be a completely brilliant young woman, in every way.
Athletically, it goes without saying.
Though she parted ways with the hoops world when she reached high school (I cry about that at least twice a week), Valen has blazed an extraordinary trail through the worlds of volleyball and tennis.
When she departs CHS, her memory will live on thanks to the volleyball record board in the gym hallway, as she already holds the school’s career record for digs.
Bolstered by Trujillo and classmates Tiffany Briscoe and Ally Roberts, the Wolf spikers won their first playoff match in years last season, and the outlook this year under new coach Cory Whitmore is so bright Valen might have to wear her tennis sunglasses indoors.
On the hard-court, Trujillo learned her game while backing up Jacki Ginnings, then blossomed as the #1 singles player when her mentor graduated.
A scrapper and a tactician, she’s the best player in the 1A Olympic League and has a legitimate shot at making a run at a state berth this coming spring.
And, this is all fine and good, but sports are just a small smidge of what makes Trujillo one of the true greats.
She is musically talented, both as a singer and guitar player, a brilliant baker (who has been kind enough to “bribe” me with some of her goodies), a protective, caring older sister to younger sibling Zoe, and deeply committed to her faith.
Now, maybe she’s killing hobos and burying them out behind the house. Anything is possible.
But everything I witnessed for the past four years, everything I have heard, points to one inescapable conclusion — Valen is the real deal.
She is kind, joyful, caring, genuinely friendly, whip-smart, strong as a rock, resolute and committed, essentially everything one looks for when they want to reach down and pluck up one student/athlete to show the world what Coupeville can produce.
Her parents, Craig and Amy, have done a remarkable job raising her and Zoe, and both girls reflect extremely well back on their parents, their faith, their school and their town.
When the time comes for Valen to leave CHS behind, when she hangs up her volleyball knee pads and her tennis racket and goes off to blossom in the outside world, it will be somewhat of a sad day.
I’ll miss seeing her streak across the horizon, a bright, burning ball of awesomeness illuminating all around her.
But it will also be a joyous day, because whatever she does with her life after high school, others who haven’t met her, who haven’t been able to enjoy having her as part of their life, will suddenly find themselves with a new blessing.
Trujillo was amazing as a middle school kid.
She’s been extraordinary as a high school teen.
Without a doubt, she’s going to make the entire world stand up and take notice of her as she becomes an adult.
So, happy birthday Valen.
And thank you, for letting all of us be a small part of your remarkable journey.
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