Northern Star: Maddie Young

For this week's segment, we feature a Cloquet girls basketball player who recently scored her 1,000th career point.

CLOQUET, Minn. – For Maddie Young, being a multi-sport athlete has been made easier by the people around her.

“We just pride ourselves on playing for each other and playing as a team. It’s just really fun to come into the gym not only to play basketball but also play it with your best friends,” Young said.

Which includes her basketball head coach, who also goes by the name mom.

“Just realizing that’s my kid who plays hard for me, plays hard for this program, what a special thing that is and that I need to remember that from time to time,” Cloquet head coach and Maddie’s mom Heather Young said.

“She always pushes me hard and at first I would get frustrated with it but now that I’m kind of older and I see that she was doing it for my best interest. It’s really cool to share a passion with her and it’s something that we both kind of love to do,” Maddie Young added.

Surrounded by all of those people, Maddie Young scored her 1000th career point earlier this week.

“For her to accomplish that, I think is just a huge feat. But it takes somebody to rebound, it takes somebody to bring that ball down the floor, takes somebody to pass it in and of course she’s got to finish the job and she’s been fortunate enough to be able to finish it,” Heather Young said of her daughter.

The accomplishment means a little more for Maddie Young after a knee injury her sophomore year.

“I missed my whole sophomore soccer season but I recovered before basketball but I think getting over the obstacle, it really developed my mental toughness,” Maddie said.

Now fully healthy, Young is helping the Lumberjacks to one of their best starts to a season, currently sitting at an 11-3 record.

“I knew it was going to be a special year and I think we’ve shown that as we’ve started off here,” Maddie said.

“She’s dedicated. She comes to the gym by herself and she’ll shoot, she does ball handling, she does the weight room, she does those little things that put her up above and beyond the average player,” Heather added.

But Maddie has much bigger goals for the team and program that means everything to her.

“We’d go down to the state tournament every year and watch so just playing down there with her by my side would just be a crazy experience and something I’ve always dreamed off. Being a Lumberjack is just an honor and I wouldn’t want to play for anyone else,” Maddie Young said.