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Posts Tagged ‘Happy birthday’

Risen Johnson floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee. (John Fisken photos)

Risen Johnson floats like a butterfly, yet stings like a bee. (John Fisken photos)

Johnson and Luke Merriman have a fashion-off.

Johnson and Luke Merriman have a fashion-off.

He was like a bolt of pure energy.

When Risen Johnson took the floor this year — his first as a basketball player at Coupeville High School after transferring to Cow Town — he was a one-man whirlwind.

Dipping and diving through the air, always guaranteed to put a little extra mustard on everything, Risen was worth the price of admission.

If I actually paid to get in, that is…

And let’s take a huge moment to thank the fine folks at CHS who DON’T charge me to cover games. May that continue.

But anyway, back to my first point.

Risen, who celebrates a birthday today, was pure fun to watch.

Sure, he flew wild sometimes, but that was part of the thrill.

He’s a young player, still fairly new to the sport, and he’s fine-tuning his skill set.

What he has is undeniable speed and hops and a penchant for throwing up highlight reel-worthy plays from time to time.

Every time Risen touched the ball you never quite knew what was coming next.

Like I said, fun.

So let’s take a moment to thank him for the thrills, wish him a great birthday and look forward to all the new moves he’s probably busy working on right now.

We are all witnesses, Risen. Bring it on.

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"It's mah birthday!!!" (John Fisken photos)

“It’s mah birthday!!!” (John Fisken photos)

McKayla (top) and McKenzie Bailey

McKayla (top) and McKenzie Bailey, the best there ever was in the photo biz.

McKe

“Dang straight, Skippy!!”

The stare started with side-eye, and not just side-eye, but truly epic side-eye.

Then, without seeming to do so, McKenzie Bailey’s head turned 180 degrees and, over the top of her glasses, one eyebrow cocked, she regarded me as if I just asked her to lick a fresh cow pattie.

I had made the mistake of telling her mom, Donna, that with older sister McKayla about to graduate, little sis Mollie, several years shy of high school, was Coupeville Sports next true superstar, the chosen one who would inherit the crown of the one true Photo Bomb Queen.

Realizing  my mistake too late (a common occurrence in my life…), I started to stammer while McKenzie held the look for just long enough to send ice down the spine.

“I do not believe I have left this school yet, have I?”

One more beat to let the eyebrow fully cock, then she let me off the hook, her trademark light-up-the-prairie smile breaking through.

And really, could there have been any doubt that McKenzie, who celebrates a birthday today, is already primed to take over the throne held for so long by McKayla?

Photos, taking photos, being in photos, photo-bombing others in photos — it’s a time-honored Bailey Tradition.

Mollie will certainly get her moment, but not until McKenzie lets the crown reluctantly slip from her college-bound fingers in a year or so.

Not that photos are her only claim to fame.

A consistent three-sport athlete (volleyball, basketball, tennis), McKenzie was one of just two Wolves — with Wynter Thorne — to play on both of the CHS squads to win an Olympic League title last year.

A key contributor for both the basketball and tennis teams, which put up the first new championship banners in Cow Town since 2002, Bailey is the real deal.

She’s also a pretty phenomenal student — like big sis — and can probably drive a tractor with one hand while popping wheelies and playing the guitar intro to Nirvana’s “Come as You Are” with the other (why not?) if she wants.

Talented, vivacious, and as friendly as all get out (except when her rise to power is being questioned) McKenzie is a true original.

She’s got some McKayla in her, and a dash of Mollie, and vice versa, but the middle Bailey is her own amazing young woman.

Happy birthday, McKenzie. May your reign be as impressive as you are.

P.S. — That’s pretty dang impressive.

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The many faces of Amanda Fabrizi.

The many faces of Amanda Fabrizi.

She was never one to shout and proclaim herself as the best.

Which never disguised how good she really was.

Former Wolf basketball/volleyball star Amanda Fabrizi didn’t make a play for the headlines or the photo ops, she just worked, and worked, and worked some more.

And it paid off, in a career that was capped with a particularly stellar senior hoops season in which she buried one dagger after another from long distance.

A superb outside shooter who could also be quite deadly with a lil’ running hook shot, Fabrizi, who celebrates her birthday today, was money.

Tough and gritty on the court, and a sweetheart off, much like her hard-court running mate at the time, Breeanna Messner, Fab was deceptive.

Other teams sometimes figured the duo for pushovers, mistaking quiet confidence for timidness.

It was a mistake they never made twice.

Fabrizi was relentless, crashing hard to the hoop, daring the other team to put her on the line with the game at stake.

Back up, though, and she’d bury the trey over your head.

Now, as she navigates college life and pursues being an orthopedic surgeon, her work ethic is still remarkable.

And, while Wolf fans don’t see her up close and personal like they once did, we all still wish her the best.

Happy birthday, Miss Fabrizi.

May it hit nothing but net, just like you always did.

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Sean Donley? He's like a freakin' Greek god, he is. (John Fisken photos)

Sean Donley, operating at legendary status. (John Fisken photos)

We come to remember a legend.

The scrappiest of scrappy booters, the king of hairpin moves on the pitch, a man who could steal a pass, juke a defender out of his shoes, lay in a sizzling line drive for a goal, then go play “We are the Champions” on a baby grand piano on the sidelines while his teammates celebrate.

Sean Donley may no longer be patrolling the grass field at Coupeville High School for the Wolf boys’ soccer team, or be slaving away in the dish pits at Christopher’s on Whidbey, but he left his mark before leaving both locales.

He was the smartest, the quickest and the most talented, yet retained his boyish enthusiasm and laid-back charm.

He was Mr. Donley, living (large) legend, and nothing has changed.

As he celebrates a birthday today, we just want to send him best wishes.

You haven’t been forgotten, Mr. Donley. Your shadow still looms strong over the land.

May it be ever so.

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Makana (John Fisken photos)

Makana Stone dominates. (John Fisken photos)

Maddie Big Time gets epic.

Maddie Big Time gets epic.

Nick Streubel, comin' at ya.

Nick Streubel, comin’ at ya.

The Surgeon is here to operate.

The Surgeon is here to operate.

Zane Bundy flies.

Zane Bundy flies.

Judy would like you to meet her elbow.

Judy would like you to meet her elbow.

Birthday boy John Fisken (left) with his family.

Birthday boy John Fisken (left) with his family.

Coupeville Sports wouldn’t be Coupeville Sports without him, even if he does insist on wearing Oak Harbor colors.

Much of the success of this blog can be directly attributed to the zillions of glossy, eye-popping photos we run.

Shelli Trumbull was the first to step up and then, later, John Fisken joined her on the front-lines in clicking away.

Sure, he fits us in around Oak Harbor’s schedule — that whole, I have kids at that school and there’s more students there, so more parents to buy photos, blah blah blah — but he is a constant, welcome presence in Cow Town.

If I ever paid him all the Diet Coke I owe him, Pepsi would just shrug their shoulders and call it a day, cause the market battle would be decided in one fell swoop.

As he celebrates a birthday today (I’m assuming 23, maybe 24…), I’m running a smattering of his snappiest pics.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and by no means meant to represent the best of his work.

Go bounce around Coupeville Sports for the next seven or eight hours and you can pick your personal favorites.

Fisken can shoot action with the best of them and is an absolute pro at getting behind-the-scenes photos that allow Wolf athletes to show off their personalities.

He is the rock, here on The Rock.

Happy birthday, you brilliant whiz kid, you.

Now don’t you have a little league game you should go shoot?

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