Hope Lodell charges out, ready to slice ‘n dice foes as The Surgeon. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Pick a sport, and The Surgeon will carve you up.
Hope Lodell is among the most talented athletes I have written about, and it’s far more than just what she did between the lines on a field or court.
From the moment she was born, she was frankly kind of uncanny.
Walking around while doing a handstand, and not just a few lurching feet, but traveling as far as she wanted to, her body never wavering.
In later years, she amused herself by doing pull-ups on the softball dugout during rain delays, effortlessly ripping them off until she realized everyone was watching her, mouths agape.
Dropping back down to the ground, in much the same way a cougar would pounce off of a rock to attack its prey, Lodell shook her head, smiled, rolled her eyes and bounced off to do other feats of strength, away from autograph seekers.
She could have been a hellion on the basketball court.
Actually she was, in middle school, but then left CHS coaches to sob uncontrollably in their morning Cheerios over her decision to not play the sport in high school.
What Lodell did choose was volleyball and softball, and, for four solid years, she was a BEAST. And yes, that word is supposed to be capitalized, thank you.
On the volleyball court, she was a wild woman unleashed, one of the best servers in the entire freakin’ state.
Jumping, twirling, flying into the gym from somewhere out in the hallway, then going airborne and uncorking raw, blistering heat, she peppered foes (and teammates in practice) with balls they had little chance to return.
If that alone, the ability to crush her serves, was all she had, Lodell would have been a star.
But she could do it all on the court, and morphed her game to fit what the coaches asked of her any given day.
That was never more evident than in her senior season, when she slid into the libero position formerly occupied by Valen Trujillo.
Others would have stumbled a bit, learning a new position, and a vitally important one at that, on the fly.
Lodell? She went out, adapted in the blink of an eye, and brought home an Olympic League MVP award, while helping CHS sweep through conference action without losing a set.
Fresh off their second-straight league crown, Lodell and the Wolves advanced to state as well, the first time the Coupeville spikers had gone to the big dance in more than a decade.
Put her on a softball diamond and she was a walking, talking web gem come to life. Just replace “walking” with “sprinting from corner to corner of the outfield on a dead run.”
There were few balls which evaded her glove in four years of anchoring the defense in center, and Lodell was equally dangerous with her bat and her feet.
Multiple All-Conference honors and two runs at qualifying for the state tourney which fell just a pitch or two short, and the highlight reel never stopped running.
But as amazing as she is as an athlete, Lodell is even more impressive in the other aspects of her life.
I call her The Surgeon for two reasons.
One, she carved up opponents in the arena, and two, she will one day be carving people as a doctor.
And probably curing cancer or some disease we haven’t heard about yet, cause her brain is just that impressive.
Some of the athletes I write about I’ve known for a short period of time. Others a few years.
With Hope, I’ve known her since the day she was born, and she has remained the same joyous force of nature, the same kind, caring, high-achieving supernova, every step of her path.
She is going to blow our minds with what she accomplishes post-high school. Of that, there is no doubt.
So, today, before she starts winning all the world-wide awards, I’m slipping in to give her a local honor.
We’re swinging open the doors of the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame and welcoming Lodell to our little digital playground.
After this, you’ll find her lounging up at the top of the blog, enshrined under the Legends tab.
Take a peek inside and she’ll be easy to find. She’ll be the one doing one-arm pull-ups on the doorway to the Hall.
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