VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Trusty rises above competition, lifts up teammates
Lakeside senior outside hitter Maddie Trusty is wellknown across the state for her abilities on the court.
With a player that has repeatedly been one of the top players in the region, the Florida State signee drew a crowd this season with her play on the court.
“This is a girl that stood out everywhere we went. … When Mena came here to play us, people were coming to watch her play,” said Rams head coach Rhonda Thigpen. “They knew it’s gonna be a good game, but they’re coming to watch her play. Why? Because I think, you know, you’re going to have good players, but a rare — a player that was one of the best in the state.”
After suffering a season-ending injury during the team’s Oct. 13 game against Texarkana, Trusty continued to encourage her teammates on the court as they advanced to the Class 5A state semifinals, falling to eventual state champion Greenwood. Trusty is the All-Garland County Volleyball Player of the Year.
“I could not have been more proud of the team, and like, obviously when the star player goes out everybody’s like, ‘Oh, they have no chance,’ but you would have never known,” she said. “Watching them from the sidelines was so hard for me, not only because I wanted to be out there, but it was just like watching them play with so much emotion and like knowing that they were playing like for — they weren’t playing just for me, but like knowing that I had such an impact and just like watching them play brought me so much joy and like I was crying on the bench after they won both those five setters. I mean you have to go in to state, and they were just playing like they had nothing to lose, which they didn’t and it was just like, it was so remarkable to watch.”
Trusty finished with a plethora of awards this season, including AVCA Player of the Week and making the AVCA All-Region Team, but she is not one to gloat about her success.
“It definitely feels so good,” she said. “Like obviously given that I couldn’t finish up the season because of my injury, like still getting those awards and like still having that impact, like on the school and like with my team, like that still feels really good. And even though it didn’t end the way I wanted to, like getting those awards still makes me feel like, you know, I had a large contribution, and I was just able to get those awards and like still feel good about the season that I did have.”
The daughter of Erica and Landon Trusty, both of whom were standout athletes at the University of Central Arkansas, Maddie wanted to play volleyball from a young age.
“My mom played in college,” Trusty explained. “She played since eighth grade, and I begged to be on a team because when we moved here, she started her own club. And I begged to be on a team when I was 6, but she made me wait until I was 7. And I mean, I’ve always just wanted to play. I mean, she had me in college; she was playing volleyball, so I had a little playpen in the gym. I mean, I’ve just grown up playing and being around it.”
Although she was able to join a team at 7, she was by far the youngest player.
“But we didn’t have a 7 year old team, so I had to play with 12 year olds. … It didn’t matter. As long as I was on a court and I had a ball in my hands, like, I just always wanted to be around it. And I mean, that’s basically how it started,” she said.
Formerly the head coach at Henderson State University, Thigpen would scout club volleyball teams, looking for talented players to join her squad. During one of those scouting trips, someone pointed out Trusty to her.
“Somebody said, ‘Go down to the end and look at this little gal,’ not knowing, you know, like I said that all these years later, I’d get to coach (her),” Thigpen recalled. “And of course, I knew her mother. … When I was coaching Henderson and she was at UCA, I actually watched her daddy coach her in clubs. So … just getting getting her on the court and getting to see her firsthand, I thought, immediately, I thought, ‘Gosh, this is one of the best girls in Arkansas.’”
Trusty blossomed into an even more formidable athlete under Thigpen’s tutelage, as the coach emphasizes strength and development training. Thigpen also noted that Trusty’s joining a beach volleyball program helped to develop her skills as well.
“I think that she was stronger — a lot stronger than she was as a sophomore,” Thigpen said. “And I think, you know, even the doctor, when she did this, said, ‘ Well, your legs are so strong.’ I think that that’s a tribute to her. … I think that’s because maybe maturity. I think that she decided, you know, ‘I’m supposed to be the best. I’m going to be the best out here.’ And I think that was a big step up to see that.”
When Trusty went down with her injury in October, she knew that something was wrong immediately.
“You can ask anyone, like, I don’t get injured,” she said. “And when I do, I just kind of play through it. Like the most I’ve had is like a sprained ankle. … I was trying to keep my hopes high because if it was if it was just my ACL, I probably would have played and just got worried about it when the season was over. But we got a doctor’s appointment the next morning, and he told us it was my ACL and meniscus and I was done.
“And that was the worst part and I didn’t want to, you know, say anything about it to anyone or like make a big deal out of it until I knew for sure. And then I just kind of let everybody know. Like, it’s been like a blessing. Like I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Obviously I would have, you know, wanted to clear out the season, but everything happens for a reason. Like I wouldn’t have traded this season for anything.”
Many people anticipated that the Rams would just fold after Trusty went down, but the team continued to battle.
They finished out the Texarkana game with a 3-0 victory before beating Mena 3-2 in a non- conference game and wrapping up the conference season with a 3- 0 win over Hot Springs. The Rams then defeated Mountain Home and West Memphis in back-to-back five-set matches.
Thigpen said that the team’s drive and improved play was directly due to Trusty.
“If you’re playing against somebody that’s hitting a 400 versus somebody hitting a 200 — so in other words, they’re getting double kills, that’s happening in practice every day,” she said. “So when that’s happening in practice every day, your block has to be better because now you’re coming at, you know, you’re preparing yourself for a West Memphis team. … In the same way, the serve-receive, you know, they’ve got to work to not serve her. They had to work not serve her in practice. So that made them more.”
Trusty thinks it was more than just her.
“We just got to a point where we were all trying to play for one another, and it’s always been like that,” she said. “And then we just had such like a tight bond that not only did we want to play for ourselves, but we wanted to play for one another. And like, we wanted to do good for one another. And that’s just what I think helped us throughout all the craziness of this year, and just everything and all the like, hardships we had to go through.”
Despite the injury, Trusty is still going to attend Florida State. After a successful surgery, she anticipates a full recovery with the hopes of a strong college career as the first Division I beach volleyball signee from Lakeside.
“It’s very surreal,” she said. “And it’s weird because it’s like a completely different world out in the beach volleyball world than it is here. And that’s nothing to do with like, the lack of beach volleyball, it’s just like, it’s just two separate things. … I’ve had the best support system. And I’ve had like great coaches growing up, and I think like, me making it to that next level, not only makes like myself feel good, obviously, but like those coaches that put so much time — like coach Thigpen and my parents and like any other sports coach I’ve ever had; it makes them feel very good as well.”