Proving people wrong
Madi Race shines on soccer field
To Madi Race’s knowledge, there is no technical name or description for what she physically deals with on a day-to-day basis.
A very general explanation for it is this: Her hips are built in such a way that it causes her knees to bow outward. Yet, she is pigeontoed as well with her feet pointing inward. The result is she doesn’t walk in a normal manner, and she’s been questioned about it all her life — from people genuinely curious and those who are cruel and hurtful alike.
“I’ve had people ask me, ‘Why do you walk like that?’” said Race, a senior girls soccer player at Siloam Springs High School. “They’d make fun of me and stuff like that, but I feel because of what I’ve had to encounter and deal with, it’s made me stronger. Because a lot of people don’t have to learn how to do things differently.”
Race hasn’t let her condition keep her from doing what she loves most though — playing soccer. And not only playing soccer, but excelling in the sport.
“My parents, they’ve always told me, ‘You’re special — use it. It makes you unique. Be unique. Be Madi; don’t try and be someone else that you’re not.’ That has really gotten me a long ways,” Race said. “I would say I’m very competitive and stubborn, and so when someone says, ‘You can’t do that,’ I’m like, ‘Watch me. I’m going to show you that I can do it.’
“I just want to show them I’m more than what you see in me. Look at what else I can do because I’m not going to let this hold me back. Pushing through, I guess my stubbornness has carried me a long way.”
High school standout
Heading into the Class 5A state tournament this week at Siloam Springs, Race is second on the Lady Panthers (13-3-1) with 13 goals and leads the team with 11 assists.
A contributor since her freshman season in 2018, when the Lady Panthers won their fifth straight state championship, Race has scored 29 goals and registered 25 assists for her high school career. Race signed to play soccer at Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., back in February.
Siloam Springs head coach Abby Ray was an assistant on the Lady Panthers’ staff when Race joined the varsity team in 2018.
Ray recalls her first impressions of Race back then — particularly her speed.
“I remember that her speed is just shocking,” Ray said. “You see her walk and jog and because of the way her legs are you’d think the girl is not going to be fast, and then she takes off and she’s always one of the fastest people on the field. I think that shocks everybody the first time they see her take off.”
“I’ve always been very, very fast,” Race said.
Saving the day
Race also plays fast and extremely hard. Sometimes that hard work rubs off on her teammates. In the 2018 Class 5A state quarterfinals in Russellville, with Siloam Springs trailing host Russellville
1-0 on the Lady Cyclones’ home field and appearing listless, then-coach Brent Crenshaw moved Race from defender to the top of the Lady Panthers’ attack, looking for some energy.
Race provided just that, putting two shots on goal, including going in hard against Russellville’s keeper. That play energized her teammates and Siloam Springs rallied for a 2-1 victory and went on to win the state title.