Coaches and teammates that know Maddy Grandbois know that she won’t back down from a good challenge, and will give her best at whatever she is doing. Grandbois’ attitude and determination will be missed on the women’s basketball team and shot put team.
As a dual sport athlete, Grandbois got to know Western Washington University head strength and conditioning coach Damien Fisher, as he helped her become a stronger and better athlete in both her sports. Fisher was also a basketball and track and field dual sport athlete in college, so he understands her perspective and athletic drive to compete.
“She is someone who is very driven, and when she has a goal, she works incredibly hard to reach that, sometimes too hard,” Fisher said. “I think that would be her defining piece, is that when she does something, she throws herself into it. She doesn’t halfway do things.”
Teammates look up to Grandbois, and know that she won’t let the team down. On the basketball team, Grandbois was a standout defender, and was a big time player when it came down to pressure situations.
“She is going to do whatever the team needs to win, and that’s something that not a lot of people want to do, so I think that inspired me as a player,” said Mason Oberg, a teammate of Grandbois on the women’s basketball team.
Grandbois has been playing basketball throughout her life. When she was growing up, she was able to go to the gym while her mom coached the local high school basketball team, and started playing recreational basketball at age five. Grandbois picked up shot put in middle school, after finding inspiration from seeing her sister doing it.
From going to the national championship game her freshman year, to winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament at home, to setting the second-best mark in Western’s women’s shot put history, Grandbois had a successful athletic career at Western. Success comes with its challenges, such as trying to manage school and two sports.
“I love being busy and being on the go all the time, and I really enjoyed that part about playing two sports at once, but I think at times, I would tend to exhaust myself a lot, and I don’t think that I allowed myself proper rest,” Grandbois said. “I always felt there was more I could do.”
Grandbois didn’t start collegiate shot put until her junior year. This year, she was able to put all her focus into shot put after wrapping up her collegiate basketball career. One moment that stood out to coach Fisher was at the Ralph Vernacchia track and field meet, when Grandbois set a personal record in the shot put.
“I think the moment that stood out with that, was not necessarily the mark, it wasn’t the number, it was how she conducted herself leading up to that,” Fisher said. “When she came out after basketball, it was a long career, she was tired. To her utmost credit, she decided, ok, well, if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this.”
Grandbois said she doesn’t exactly know what she wants to do after finishing her collegiate career, but she found that through sports, she loves having a strict future with responsibility, discipline and intensity within the workforce. She plans on never stopping sports because of the competitiveness it provides.
Grandbois said that she is grateful for all of the coaches and teammates she made along her journey, and believes they taught her how to be confident. She hopes to leave behind with the message that hard work means a lot.
“As my athletic careers have come to an end, I just want to say thank you to my family, because they’ve done so much for me,” Grandbois said. “Some people that don’t get a lot of thanks are my sister and my girlfriend. They traveled a lot, but they were also on the backside of the moments where I went down, they were the ones to pick me up.”
Maddy Grandbois smiles after a game vs Simon Fraser University on Feb. 22, 2025 at Carver Gym in Bellingham, Wash. Grandbois and her teammate, Olivia Wikstrom were both seniors on the team. // Photo by Imogene Eagen
Brady Rufner (he/him) is a sports and recreation reporter for The Front. He is in his first year at Western and is majoring in visual journalism. When he isn’t covering stories or taking photos, he is usually running, skiing, or playing soccer. You can reach him at bradyrufner.thefront@gmail.com.
