The piercing blue eyes, freckled face and friendly demeanor mask Maddie Sheils' true nature.
The 18-year-old senior on the Bishop Kelly High girls golf team is a fighter. That - more than talent, more than her renowned work ethic - is why she has 30 or so trophies lining the top shelf in her bedroom, including hardware from a gutsy national victory last summer.
Sheils will chase her second 4A state title - and fourth team title - Monday and Tuesday at Jerome Country Club.
"I joke with the other coaches (at BK)," girls golf coach Larry Crump said. "Man, if I was ever in a street fight, I think I would want her on my side, because she's that competitive."
Sheils, who lives two doors down the street from the clubhouse at Hillcrest Country Club, began joining her parents at the club when she was 5. She played her first Idaho Golf Association junior tournament when she was 8.
She doesn't remember what drew her to the game.
She does know why she committed herself to it.
"I love the competition and having something to work toward," she said, beginning to laugh, "and I love winning."
Sheils, who earned a golf scholarship to Nebraska, played nine holes with me last week. It was a chance to get to know one of the Treasure Valley's most accomplished high school athletes.
Here are nine things I learned about Sheils and her game - one for each hole that we played:
1. NEIGHBORHOOD GAME
The Sheils family - mom, dad and two daughters - moved into the house next to Hillcrest 13 years ago. The family has been a part of the club since Sheils' grandfather joined in 1953.
"(The members) have adopted her," said Sheils' father, Max. " She is not afraid to engage in adult conversation. She will spar with you."
2. IT IS NOT EASY
Sheils practices six or seven days a week in the summer, for as much as eight hours. She practices less during the school year, but tries to put in at least 2 hours per practice session "to make it worth it."
Nobody pushes her to practice, she says. A competitive fire is her motivation.
"She has worked her tail off," Max said. " This is a young lady who has really dedicated herself to trying to get better."
3. SHE'S COACHABLE
T.J. Gomez, the pro at Shadow Valley Golf Course and a former assistant at Hillcrest, began teaching Sheils in 2001. He has molded her swing and her mental approach ever since, growing so close to Sheils that she has "become more like a daughter than a student."
Gomez remembers a stretch two summers ago when Sheils struggled in a national tournament and showed up for the state junior championship in Coeur d'Alene with no idea where the ball was going. They met at 5 p.m. the day before the tournament began.
"She was hitting the ball so bad I couldn't believe it," Gomez said. "She looked like Annika (Sorenstam) two weeks before. She was slicing the ball, chunking the ball. She basically had lost her confidence. We worked for like 45 minutes. I gave her what boiled down to three Band-Aids. It wasn't a golf lesson. It was, 'Feel like you're doing this and exaggerate the heck out of it.' I gave her those three things and a hug.
"And she goes out and wins the state junior. Not a lot of people know those parts. Her ability to think her way around the golf course, to get the most out of her golf game, to simply win, has been amazing."
4. IT IS NOT ALL GOLF
Sheils carries a 4.0 GPA at BK, likes to ski and is a former basketball player who decided she could not excel in both sports because of golf's demanding summer season.
Sometimes, she admits, she has to pull herself away from practice for outside commitments when she thinks she needs to keep grinding. She enjoys the company of friends and attending concerts.
"The summer days are long enough that I squeeze it in," she said of her social life.
5. BIG FISH
Sheils' first experience on the national stage was the 2005 Big I Junior Classic in Indiana, when she was 15.
"I was just blown away," she said. "It was this really hard course and I played with these girls who were super good. I was like. 'Oh my gosh, I've got some work to do.'
"That kind of inspired me."
The next year, in Texas, Sheils made the cut in the same event by winning a five-way playoff. Still, she wasn't satisfied.
The girl who won state titles in her age group at 11 and 13 and overall junior state titles at 15 and 16 wanted to earn recognition outside of Idaho.
"It was more work, more work," she said. " I didn't want to be a big fish in a little pond anymore. I wanted to be a big fish with the rest of the big fish."
Her breakthrough occurred last summer at Crane Creek Country Club, where Sheils went wire to wire to win the Big I. She squandered a five-shot lead in the final round, but rallied for a two-stroke win.
She also won a PGA Junior Series event in Las Vegas.
The Big I win, she said, allowed her to prove to others what she already knew - that she had the game to compete nationally. She will try to defend her title this summer in North Carolina.
"It was, more than anything, just satisfaction," she said. "And excitement and relief and joy."
6. SHE LOVES HER SHORT GAME
She tries to practice chipping and putting for at least as long as she hits full shots.
"I just love making birdie putts or a long par putt or anything that gives you momentum," she said.
7. SHE'S PART OF A JUGGERNAUT
Bishop Kelly has won three straight 4A state titles and five state titles in nine years. Sheils and senior Alex Semanko have helped win three titles; junior Katie Skinner has been on two of those teams.
Sheils was the state medalist in 2005. She lost a playoff in 2006 and finished second to Skinner by one shot in 2007. Skinner also won the 2008 District Three title this week.
"It's been a fun ride," Crump said. "We've had so many good girls over the last couple years. We've just been watching these girls grow."
8. NATIONAL CHAMPION HUSKERS?
Sheils sent letters to about 55 college coaches in the summer of 2006 to let them know she was on the market. Among the first schools to show an interest: Nebraska, where Elli Brown of Meridian is about to close out a successful career.
Nebraska coach Robin Krapfl spent most of last year's Big I trailing Sheils. Krapfl eventually offered Sheils a full scholarship and expects her to crack the Huskers' lineup this fall. The team earned an NCAA regionals berth this season.
"I loved her competitiveness," Krapfl said. "She has an awesome short game, which in the college game is very important. I love her attitude in how she treats people - whether her opponents or volunteers. That's very important to me. She's a great student. And then obviously her golf game I think is going to be very successful at the college level."
Sheils also visited San Francisco, Santa Clara, Washington State, New Mexico and Yale.
"It seems like up until this point, it's always just been working toward that scholarship," she said. "I've kind of realized, 'Well, oh my God, now what do I do?' I want to be the best college player I can be. I want to lead Nebraska to a national title. I want to be a first-team All-American. And then who knows what after that. But those are my goals for right now."
9. "SECOND PLACE SUCKS"
Sheils lists some lofty - some might say outrageous - goals for herself. But that's the fighter in her, the competitor in her.
"It's just kind of in my nature," she said. "Like Tiger says, 'Second place sucks.' I just go after it. I like to be on top and really have a goal and there's nothing like the feeling when you've worked so hard for something and it's finally paid off."
Kuna High product Elli Brown of Meridian is a four-year starter at Nebraska. Brown, who earned All-Big 12 honors last year, leads the Huskers into the NCAA Central Regional with a team-best scoring average of 77.47. Brown finished in the top 12 at her last three Big 12 Championships. The Central Regional is Thursday through Saturday in Austin, Texas.
