THURSTON – High school athletes playing two, even three sports is unusual, but not unheard of. However, playing five, and three at once, makes Addison Nelson unique.
She played volleyball in the fall, basketball in the winter, and is on the track & field, flag football, and softball teams for Thurston. The logistics of playing three sports at once are hard to wrap one’s mind around.
Here is a glimpse at a typical week for Nelson:
- Monday and Wednesday are practice days. On those days, her class schedule allows her to get out earlier than most, and track coach John Gillespie takes her through an hour and a half long workout. By the time everyone else gets out of class, Nelson is ready for a two-hour softball practice. In the evening, Nelson spends two more hours practicing with the flag football team.
- Tuesdays are typically softball game days.
- Thursdays are for flag football, often with multiple games in a day.
- Fridays and Saturdays are for track and softball.
She downplays the difficulty of balancing everything, saying it’s more feasible than an outside observer might expect. However, she might just be wired differently than most.
Excelling everywhere
If she was only treading water with so much on her plate it would be impressive, but Nelson is excelling.
She is the quarterback on the flag football team and one of the top athletes on the track squad. This past week, she set meet records in the long jump and triple jump at the Medford Rotary Relays, a meet which has been around for 87 years. Thursday, Nelson led her team to a 3-0 record in a flag football tripleheader to push their record to 8-0, one of three undefeated teams in the state. In the third game, Nelson threw three touchdowns and no interceptions, including some beautiful spirals in tight windows to find open receivers. On the softball diamond, Nelson has four walks and two runs scored in seven games played, despite not having played since 6th grade.
The senior already has her future set up. She will be on the volleyball and track teams at Linfield University in the fall.
Drawn to sports
Nelson started playing sports at three years old. After deciding dance was not for her, she picked up basketball, and volleyball soon after that. Nelson expected those two to be her high school sports, until Gillespie substitute taught one of her freshman classes.
“He said, ‘You’re a volleyball player and you can jump pretty high, so why don’t you come out for track?’” Nelson said of Gillespie. “I go, ‘Well, I didn’t really think I was gonna do a spring sport.’ I thought about it, but I was just gonna focus on volleyball and basketball; and then I came out for track, and one thing led to another, and now I’m doing three (spring sports),” she said with a laugh.
For Nelson, sports are not just a hobby, but something of an obsession. Much of that comes from her upbringing. Her parents were both multi-sport athletes, and she says that nowadays, the only thing on TV in their household is whatever sport is in season.
Nelson is quick to point, however, that she has never felt pressured by her parents, and when she talked to them about playing softball, they even pushed back on the idea.
“They were like, ‘Are you sure?’ You’re going to college for track, you don’t wanna burn yourself out,” Nelson said.
She was sure, and does not regret the decision.
“I love the competitive aspect,” Nelson said. “I love going out there and proving what I can do on and off the field. And just being in a sports family, I love being with the girls. So many memories come from being on a team, and I just love that aspect of it.”
Nelson has played QB for three years on the Colts’ girls flag football team, which is 8-0 this season. She also plays on the softball team.
A leader on the field
As an older sibling, Nelson is used to having to take on a leadership role. Quarterbacking is another level from most leadership, requiring quick decision-making, poise, and intelligence. The Colts have had a flag football program for three years, and Nelson has been coach Justin Starck’s quarterback for all three.
“She’s been a great leader since the time she got here, and she’s such a great role model for our younger players and just real positive and competes hard,” said Starck, who is the school’s athletic director and boys football coach.
“She’s friendly, a good teammate, and just a great, great leader.”
Nelson and her teammates have fun, though sometimes she feels more like a mother than a peer. Part of that motherly instinct comes from being an older sibling, but she also wants to pay forward the love that was shown by upperclassmen when she was a youngster.
“I always had an upperclassman look out for me, and I wanna do the same. I want to continue the chain. That’s my biggest goal in life, is not just my accolades on and off the field, but to be a better person, and have people see that and want to be like that.”
Through all the long days, Nelson has loved every second of her crazy final high school sports season.
“My coaches are so supportive. I’m so thankful that they are allowing me to do what I do,” Nelson said. “And I’m literally sprinting from one sport to another, but I don’t think I’d change it for the world. I love doing what I do, and it’s a lot of fun.”
