While others see the similarities between them, Carla Idsinga Harris sees her daughter Addison as ‘an incredible person on her own two feet’

Ken Vance, editor
Clark County Today

Addison Harris has not seen any first-hand evidence of the type of player her mother Carla (Idsinga) Harris was in high school or college. That’s not to say the evidence doesn’t exist, but she’s just never been presented with it, at least until this week as this reporter burdened the Camas High School standout with a photo request for this column.

“My mom is a very humble person,’’ said Addison, or “Addie’’ as she is known to most friends, family and others. “I guess that’s why she just doesn’t talk about it.’’

Their similarities as standout high school basketball players are obvious, even though their careers are separated by some 30-plus years. Their ginger hair is the same color. They have the same infectious smile and ever-present energy and enthusiasm, which masks a fierce competitiveness that opponents are foolish to underestimate. They even prefer the same number 33 on their uniform. But, there are also more subtle things that Carla and Addie Harris have in common — things that only a chosen number of us have been blessed with the opportunity to view with the same lens over the past three decades.

I started my journalism career as a sportswriter in 1987, covering high school sports in Clark County. Those early years were special for me. There’s just something about watching young athletes work hard and work collectively to establish life-long memories and bonds. In the early 1990’s, covering one athlete in particular brought me great joy.

Carla Idsinga (now Harris), was a standout basketball player at Battle Ground High School. She helped the Tigers claim a Class 3A state championship in 1991, followed by second- and fifth-place finishes at the state tournaments the following two seasons. I was courtside for those meaningful games then and I wrote stories about Carla and her teammates’ accomplishments. I named Carla to the all-region team twice before she went on to a successful collegiate career at the University of Portland, where she played on a Pilots team that advanced to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Journalists are supposed to be neutral. We’re told not to let personal bias seep into our observations and writing. But, any honest journalist will tell you that’s virtually impossible when covering sports. We can successfully keep those biases to ourselves, but they’re there. We wouldn’t be human if they weren’t.  

Carla was one of those athletes who quickly earned my respect and appreciation. She was humble, never seeking to be in the spotlight. I don’t think she was even aware of the spotlight because she was so good when it shined the brightest on her. She never played for individual statistics or glory. She was so talented that she could have, but she was content to let others lead the league in scoring. Her actions never suggested others to “look at me.’’ 

She didn’t have time for such nonsense. She appeared to have a singular focus — the task at hand. It wasn’t in her DNA to be anything different. Now, 30-plus years later, I’m blessed to be watching that same DNA in her daughter Addie, a three-time Class 4A Greater St. Helens League Player of the Year who is one of a number of talented athletes who make up the 2024 Camas girls basketball team. 

Unlike her mother, who won a state championship as a sophomore, Addie has saved the best for last. The Papermakers finished fourth at the Class 4A state tournament two years ago before finishing second last season. Now in her senior season, Addie and her teammates have their own singular focus, to win the state championship at this week’s state tournament at the Tacoma Dome. They hope to be playing for that state title Saturday at 5 p.m.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so captivated by a high school athlete and team. It’s a unique experience for me to appreciate a mother and a daughter as athletes separated by half my lifetime. And, as I share this unique experience with you, I want to make sure you know I’m not ignoring the many other key contributors to Addie’s success. She’s not just a mini me of her mother (she’s actually about 3-4 inches taller than Carla). Her father Jason was also a basketball standout. Like Carla, he played collegiately at the University of Portland. That’s where they met. 

Jason and Carla later married and now have three children. Addie is the oldest, followed by Ethan (a sophomore on the Camas boys team that is also headed to the state tournament this week) and Garner (an 8th grader). I don’t know Jason nearly as well as I know Carla, but I know enough about the family to know that there is DNA and attributes aplenty present in Addie that come from both of her parents, not to mention grandparents. But, with apologies to Jason and everyone else, this is a reflection on a mother and a daughter through the observations of an old sportswriter.

“Your mom was just like that”

Addie told me that neither Carla, nor anyone else, has ever shown her video of her mother playing basketball. Because her playing days were before the existence of electronic archives on the internet, I asked Carla if she had any newspaper clippings from her high school days that could help me with my research. She said she had a scrapbook that her mother Betty Idsinga had kept for her. Carla was gracious enough to bring the scrapbook out of hiding for me and it was only then that Addie saw it for the first time.

Even though Addie hasn’t seen the visual evidence of Carla’s considerable basketball legacy, she has heard testimony, including from her dad Jason.

“We were watching Montana State practice and my dad pointed to one of the girls on the team and he told me, ‘your mom was just like that. She was lean, fit and very fast,’” said Addie, who has signed to play collegiately at Montana State. “Her former teammates, old coaches, old players, my grandparents, they’ve all told me all kinds of stories.’’

Carla hasn’t spent time telling Addie about her many accomplishments. But, she has shared with her daughter other valuable experiences.

“She gives us examples of stories,’’ said Addie, referring to herself and her brothers. “I missed a game winner one time and it really hurt me and she said she did the same thing when she was in my position. So it really helped that she had experienced that before. 

“It’s nice because all the hard stuff I’m going through right now, she’s already been through,’’ Addie said. “I can learn through her. I don’t have to learn through failure. She’s able to tell me, ‘here’s how it’s going to happen. Here’s how you can handle it.’’’

“You can’t have a bad day around Addie”

Earlier this season, Fox12’s Nick Krupke produced a video spotlight of the Camas girls’ basketball team. In an interview in that feature, Camas coach Scott Thompson said of his standout player, “you can’t have a bad day around Addie.’’

“It starts with her infectious, positive energy,’’ Thompson told me this week. “She always has a smiling face. She always has great energy. She’s got the balance you always want with your players. Outside the whistles she’s happy, smiling, joyful, engaged with her teammates, loving and caring. As soon as the whistle blows, she’s a girl who can absolutely turn it on and always give her best.’’

Thompson’s praise for Addie reaches even loftier levels.

“Sometimes I kind of have moments where I try to give myself perspective from my coaching career by looking at all the great players I’ve coached,’’ Thompson said. “To me, Addie is the kind of player coaches get and think, ‘that might be a once-in-a-coaching-career player to have.’’’

Thompson and the Harrises will each recount that Addie was not always a standout player. She is the player she is today for several reasons, but hard work is at the heart of her progression.

“In the coaching world, we talk about if you’re going to win a championship, or get the best out of a team, your best player has to be your hardest worker,’’ Thompson said. “I’ve had four years with Addie. She’s always the first one in the gym every day and the last to leave. Every day she comes in with positive energy. Every day she competes in every drill we do and never takes a minute off in any practice. It’s incredible that she’s the all-time leader in school history in virtually every statistical category and she’s still the one who is willing to sacrifice, willing to give her best in every situation. She’s set such a good example that it’s hard for the rest of the team not to follow along.

“I often say, ‘we go as Addie goes,’’’ Thompson added. “What I mean by that is in practice every day, in the locker room every day, when it comes to our culture and all of the details she brings to the table, she takes the rest of the girls with her.’’

And Thompson has witnessed first hand where all of Addie’s positive attributes come from. 

“Being around Addison, you know she has a great foundation,’’ Thompson said of Jason and Carla. “They’re very supportive, not just to her but to every girl on the team. In many ways, as parents, sometimes we get overly concerned with individual statistics and maybe our own kid’s success. They are consistently more focused on the team and the encouragement they can give the girls, celebrating the success of the team over anything individual.’’

Thompson also pointed out that Jason and Carla never pushed Addie into a basketball career.

“From what I’ve seen from the outside looking in, the messages they send, they have done such an amazing job of letting basketball be Addison’s choice,’’ Thompson said. “When you have two parents who were both Division I players, you would think there would be a push for their daughter to play. But, basketball was always a choice Addison was free to make. When she was all in, they were there to support her.’’ 

Similarities?

“Similarities,’’ Carla said. “I don’t see the similarities. We both have long, red hair. I see her as such an incredible person on her own two feet. It’s her own game. It’s her own journey. People tell me there are similarities, silly little things like ‘you used to play just like that.’ I don’t see it. I think she’s much more confident in who she is as an 18-year-old than I was as an 18-year-old. That girl knows who she is and she is confident in being herself and that is something we’ve really strived for. I’m proud when people speak of her so highly as a friendly, outgoing student who is humble.’’

Carla recounted a story shared with her by her sister-in-law, who was at a gathering when a teacher from Camas High School was talking about a student who was “an amazing athlete who couldn’t be more outgoing and helpful and all these other qualities.’’ The teacher mentioned the student had long red hair.

“My sister-in-law was like, ‘is that Addison Harris?’’’ said Carla.

Yes, it was confirmed to her sister-in-law that the teacher was describing Addie.

“She’s not afraid to be herself,’’ Carla said of her daughter. “I think that’s the hardest thing an 18-year-old can do.’’

Adding that elusive championship

Addie and her teammates have one final opportunity to win a state championship, which would be the first for a Camas basketball team in the school’s history.  Her family will be there for support, and even guidance and counsel for whatever challenges the week presents. 

“It would be special,’’ Addie said of a state title. “Not only would my mom and I share a state championship but a second place as well. It would be awesome. It’s part of the reason we are so close. Our lives are so parallel from that respect.’’ 

When on the court and engaged in battle, Addie will be competing for a title alongside her teammates. Every member of the Camas team is a homegrown product of the Camas School District. They’ve shared triumphs and challenges, victory and defeat. None more painful than their loss in last year’s state championship game.

“When we got second place, it hurt a lot,’’ Addie said. “We’ve grown up together. We played on the same rec team, went to the same elementary school, same middle school and now high school. We’ve been through a lot together.

“Clearly, we are a very close team,’’ she said this week before departing for Tacoma. “We just got back from a team-bonding event. We played three-on-three on a mini hoop. I love being around those guys. We love being around each other. Honestly it’s something we’ve been working for since my freshman year. It’s a dream come true to have this opportunity. We have a long way to go. It’s going to be hard. But, I feel we have put the work in to put us in a position where we can win it.’’ 

They’ve already won

Carla obviously is hopeful that Addie and her teammates get to experience the thrill of winning a state basketball championship. However, she will tell you they’ve already won the championship of life.

“I go back to what Kobe Bryant talked about,’’ Carla said. “He used to talk about how he doesn’t focus on playing to win, or being afraid to lose. It’s about what you’re learning in every game. The same is true this season. These girls have grown in such a big way. They’ve handled really tough pressure and put themselves in this situation. It’s about how they are going to grow from this. They’ve put themselves in situations to be better humans, to be better people, to be better girls. They’ve learned to stand up for each other.’’

Carla credits long-time assistant coach John Griffin for helping the Papermakers with their leadership skills.

“A big part of it is Griff’s Academy,’’ said Carla, referring affectionately to Griffin, who has been away from the team recently while battling cancer. “That’s where they would learn life lessons. He would sit them in the classroom and go over personal leadership and life lessons. That has changed all of them. I’ve seen these young girls growing up. They’ve been given tools that have not only made them better athletes in high school, but better adults, too. Most adults don’t have the tools these young girls have.’’

Carla is thankful for the memories that have been created for Addie and her teammates.

“I guess it’s the perspective of a 49-year-old,’’ Carla said, referring to herself. ““Looking back, I don’t remember my championship game. I remember the hard practices, all the difficult times and all the fun laughter we shared going through it. That’s what I remember.’’