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Posts Tagged ‘horse sports’

Joy to the world (Rally Ally style)!!

Posted in Happy birthday, Horse sports, Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on March 26, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Ally Roberts

   Ally Roberts and her trusty steed, Tiger, prepare to win all the ribbons. All of them, I said. (Jennifer Roberts photo)

crab feed

   Roberts hangs out with Lauren Bayne and Co. at the Coupeville Booster Club’s crab feed auction. (John Fisken photos)

vball

   The Spike Crew is (l to r) Kyla Briscoe, Sarah Wright, Tiffany Briscoe, Valen Trujillo and Roberts.

spike

Impact!

Ally Roberts is sunshine come to life.

Now, it’s very possible the Coupeville High School junior, who celebrates a birthday today, may be grumpy some times.

Who among us is not from time to time?

But, if that’s true, I have yet to see it.

A standout volleyball and horse athlete who also shows up to root for her classmates at absolutely every sports event played in town, Roberts always comes across as supremely happy.

Giddy grin sliding across her face, Ally is frequently up to shenanigans when she sees wandering cameramen (and women) in the area, and she remains one of the two or three most dependable go-to people when you need a pic with a little something extra.

Put her on the big stage and she delivers, as well.

Able to angle her body at a moment’s notice in mid-flight, Roberts can be a ferocious hitter on the volleyball court, which helped Coupeville’s spikers soar to their first playoff win in several seasons in the fall.

She was #2 on the Wolves in kill percentage and hitting percentage, #3 in kills and assists, #4 in blocks and #1 in leading mid-game dance celebrations.

Equally adept when you put her astride a horse, Ally (and her trusty steed, Tiger) have amassed an astounding collection of ribbons in the world of horse sports, where she is a state meet vet.

But take her out of the world of sports (for a second or two, at least) and she has always struck me as one of the friendliest, brightest, most outgoing of all Coupeville teens.

Easygoing, yet fiercely loyal to her (ginormous) family and friends, Ally projects such joy in everything she does it would be impossible not to root for her just a bit more (OK, a lot more) than your average athlete.

It’s her sunshine-drenched world, and we’re all just lucky to be a small part of it.

Happy birthday, Miss Roberts! May your grin go on and on for many years to come.

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Whidbey duo ride to college glory!!

Posted in Horse sports, tagged , , , , on May 23, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Madison Tisa McPhee (Jack Tisa photos)

No one gets away from Madison Tisa McPhee. (Jack Tisa photos)

Brendan Coleman (right) gets ready for his roping competition.

Brendan Coleman (right) gets ready for his roping competition.

Coleman (right) operates in tandem with his teammate.

Coleman (right) operates in tandem with his teammate.

There is a road on Whidbey, a bad-ass road on which rodeo champions are produced.

Coupeville High School grads Madison Tisa McPhee and Brendan Coleman, who both hail from the same Greenbank cul-de-sac, have been tearing it up as rodeo stars for Central Washington University.

The duo and their teammates have hit the road for events in Walla Walla, Spokane and Ellensburg and just wrapped the season in Hermiston, Oregon.

Tisa McPhee, an accomplished barrel racer, added break-away roping and goat-tying  to her bag of tricks this year.

She placed seventh in overall women’s events at a big two-day Ellensburg event in late April and her CWU squad claimed second as a team at regionals and now advances to nationals.

Coleman operates as a heeler in team roping and claimed second place in Ontario and fifth at Spokane this season.

He was ranked ninth overall in the region in the event.

With the college season done, he’ll be back at it training and competing with fellow CHS grad Cody West this summer.

Tisa McPhee will be busy as well, with nationals in Wyoming in July and summer events for the Whidbey Western Gaming Association.

Both former Wolves had success early on away from the horse arena.

Coleman played for the 2010 Central Whidbey Little League baseball squad that won a state title, while Tisa McPhee snagged a ton ‘o medals as a hurdler and sprinter for the CHS track team.

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Mad Dawg: Feisty ‘n Fantastic!!

Posted in A freakin' American hero, Girls Soccer, Happy birthday, Track, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Madison Tisa McPhee, the best damn athlete to NEVER be named Athlete of the Year at CHS.

   Madison Tisa McPhee, the best damn athlete to NEVER be named Athlete of the Year at CHS.

She was the first true superstar of Coupeville Sports.

Before McKayla Bailey, before Caleb Valko and Breeanna Messner, before Killer, Hammer Time, Elbows, The Big Hurt or Maddie Big Time, one name towered over all the rest in the early days of this blog.

Madison Tisa McPhee was a bright, blazing star. Still is, just in other arenas.

Volleyball, soccer and, most of all, the pinnacle of track and the times when she sat astride a horse, the one and only, original, Mad Dawg, rocked the joint.

Flying across the hurdles or teaming with Makana Stone, Jai’Lysa Hoskins, Sylvia Hurlburt, Marisa Etzell and Kirsten Pelroy to shatter every relay record in sight, Madison couldn’t be caught.

Put her on a horse, slap a cowboy hat on her head and the look of steely intensity she brought to track would morph into a mile-wide grin of pure delight as she and her steed thundered to win after win in riding events.

Whatever the arena, Tisa McPhee reveled in the competition, was her best in the brightest of spotlights.

That, in itself, would have marked her as a success.

But it was out of the spotlight, in the other moments, where she rose above all others.

Few, if any, high school-aged girls would consent to having a picture of their face published on the internet less than a hour after an errant soccer ball had shattered their delicate nose.

Madison said yes, quickly and fairly emphatically (maybe the painkillers were kicking in?), and that story remains among the 20 most-viewed pieces ever published on this blog (and we’re just a hair away from article #3,000).

She always answered my questions (no matter how stupid they were or how busy she probably was) and, in person, she has always been one of the most delightful people you are likely to meet.

Mad Dawg has charisma for days, and she knows it, but she wields her super power with a delicate touch.

She’s confident, bold, sometimes brash, but she pulls it all off in style.

You are a superstar, Miss Madison. From the day you were born (which happens to be today), never-ending.

The world is yours to rule. Go take it.

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