First Impressions Marshall Harden, Jake Johnson Use Element Of Surprise To Advantage

Medical Lake tennis player Marshall Harden is known for keeping teammates loose with his humor and outgoing personality.

At a recent practice, his target was junior Jake Johnson.

“You know I’m playing, right?” the team’s No. 1 singles player asked Johnson after a joke.

“It’s all good,” answered Johnson.

Johnson doesn’t mind the teasing.

He likes being accepted as part of the team.

Johnson, a first-year tennis player who plays doubles for the junior varsity, was born without a right leg and has worn more than 17 prosthetics. He said his current leg, made of carbon fiber with a hydraulic knee joint, sells for $20,000.

The 17-year-old Johnson doesn’t let his disability bring him down. He wrestles, rides a motorcycle and rock climbs, too. And he has played soccer, football and basketball.

He even hopped for three basketball games in sixth grade when he was waiting on a new leg.

“People say `Is it hard?”’ Johnson said of getting along with one leg. “I don’t really know. It’s normal for me. I’ve never had two legs.”

Doctors give Johnson different legs to try. Some are the most up-to-date on the market.

“They tell me if they hold up to me they’ll hold up to anybody,” he said.

Johnson is normal to his teammates, said Medical Lake coach Leroy Lemaster. Even opponents cheer on Johnson, the coach said.

Tennis has provided him with a new challenge.

“I’m not used to the mind part of it and thinking all the time,” Johnson said. “Usually when I get hyped up (in wrestling), I take it out on him. Here, if I get angry I have to look at him and hit the ball at him. If there was full-contact tennis, I’d be the master.”

Harden has been impressed with Johnson.

“Out here playing tennis you need two legs, but he does just fine with one,” Harden said. “I see him running around and hitting the ball and it’s really cool.”

Johnson, the fourth of six children, said doctors were afraid to show him to his mother after he was born with only one leg.

“She’s always known I would go out there and do something people wouldn’t think I could do,” Johnson said. “Limitations are in the mind and are pre-set.”

Harden said he, too, has had issues to deal with as a tennis player. First, he’s black. Second, the 5-foot-10, 220-pounder doesn’t have a typical frame for a tennis player.

He knows it.

He said he enters lots of tournaments and often encounters strange looks.

“They announce my name to play and I say `I’m here,”’ he said. “They look at me a half second and say `You play tennis? Wow.’ Then they see I’m pretty good, and it shocks them.

“I’m not the skinniest person in the world, and I’m black. They probably think I should be playing basketball, football or track.”

Harden, who has a 3.6 grade-point average, has only two losses this season and both came to 4A competition. He said he has improved since he started playing year-round. In the winter, he plays indoors, and when the weather is nice, he moves outdoors to Spokane’s Mission Park.

The 18-year-old says he’s a deceiving tennis player. He can run down short balls and is quick for his size.

“I will dive if I have to,” said Harden, who’s headed to Hampton (Va.) University this fall to study pre-medicine. “I’m the guy who comes out at night and surprises you. I’m an enigma.”

Lemaster has appreciated Harden’s example.

“He keeps everybody loose and is good to everybody,” Lemaster said. “He doesn’t think `I’m better.’ He helps people out and is a big help to our team besides being the No. 1 player. He’s not selfish at all.”

COTTON PLAYING AT 100 PERCENT For the Medical Lake girls team, senior Sara Cotton has big plans as her final season winds down. Cotton has been the team’s No. 1 for four years and went to state as a sophomore. But she missed a trip to the State 2A tourney last season. Two players from the Great Northern League advanced and Riverside’s Bernice Stime and Pullman’s Katy Huberty went on to finish first and second at state, respectively. Both were seniors. Cotton, 18, knows this is her last shot. And she’s been thinking a lot about the postseason. She said she’s playing the best tennis of her career and has improved her shot selection, strategy and mental game. Cotton said she might play tennis at Spokane Falls Community College this fall. But she’s not thinking that far ahead. “I better give it all I’ve got because there’s no coming back,” she said. “I think about it every match I play because I know I’ve got to beat this person to go to state. I know I have the potential to go but you have to use it or it’s wasted.”