Gazette MVP: Lindsey Linard's height belies talent -- on the court and on the mic (VIDEO)

One by one, the 15 nominees for Medina's homecoming court strode to a podium in the school's Performing Arts Center and delivered a one-minute speech about what decade they would go back to if given the chance. The entire senior class was in attendance, with the rest of the high school students watching on classroom televisions. This was on a Thursday, eight days before the Bees' homecoming football game. The assignment had been handed out the previous Friday, and plans for the speech had to be turned in by Monday. "When I first applied for the whole homecoming thing, I wasn't doing it to win," 6-foot-3 Lindsey Linard said. "I just wanted to do the speech, be in the parade and have a fun experience. "When we found out the whole decade thing, I knew I wanted to do the '90s. I liked basketball in that era and the music, but a normal speech isn't my personality, so I knew I had to do something different." The 2019-20 Gazette MVP for girls basketball discussed possible subjects with her parents, Michael and Cathy, and eventually decided to creatively base her presentation around the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." She then spent hours watching reruns of the show to help her come up with ideas. Slowly, her speech began to take shape. Not wanting to simply read it off a sheet of paper, the next step was to memorize it. Then came practicing it whenever time allowed. The owner of a 4.3 grade-point average and 1330 score on the SAT, Linard found the perfect place. "My parents made fun of me that whole week because they could hear me in the shower," she said. Finally, about halfway through the proceedings on that Thursday, it was Linard's turn. Crazy nervous but having developed the confidence to be herself and let others think what they may — this approach grew largely through her success on the basketball court — the 18-year-old strode to the podium. This wasn't so much a speech, though, as it was a rap, and it ended this way: "I'd listen to music, the best you can hear The West Coast rappers were the biggest those years If anything, you could say the boy bands were great I'd yell all the lyrics to my man Justin Timberlake I'd go watch 'Space Jam' around 7 or 8 And then I'd go to Chicago to see the Bulls' best player Living in the '90s I was finally there But the best part is I'd be on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.'" When Linard finished, the auditorium filled with applause. "I thought it was a great idea," close friend, basketball teammate and fellow homecoming speech participant Haley Letner said. "It was perfect for her personality, too. It was amazing. She was having fun with it and moving around and getting into it. "She grew into that. It came with the confidence she gained throughout the four years (of high school basketball), for sure." As it turned out, Linard not only made homecoming court, she eventually was crowned queen. When that announcement was made in the school gymnasium, she was dressed as LeBron James and her escort was wearing referee attire. "It was really exciting," she said. "I didn't really think I was going to get it. I'm not the typical homecoming queen." Linard isn't a typical student or basketball player, either. Never a wallflower but certainly not confrontational, she gradually developed into the player that media members knew they could count on for an interesting or insightful comment, particularly following excruciatingly tough losses. On the court, she averaged 12.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 4.5 blocks while shooting .423 from the field and .689 at the line as a senior, helping the Bees finish 17-7 overall and share the Greater Cleveland Conference title with Solon. For her efforts, Linard was named GCC Player of the Year, first-team All-Northeast Inland Division I District and special mention All-Ohio. Better still, she earned a scholarship to Duquesne, where she will redshirt as a freshman, and the respect of all her teammates. "It's been great getting to play with her," 6-1 junior power forward Sarah McKee said. "She's pushed me and challenged me to be a better player, and I think I did the same to her. The past three years have been fun because she's such a great leader and friend. "Since I was a freshman and she was a sophomore till now, her confidence in her game has really grown. She's become such a better player. She's become more confident as a leader, too, and in herself. She's been such a great friend to me and a lot of other girls. It's definitely hard to know I won't be able to play with her again." "We're super close," added Letner, who has known Linard since the fourth grade. "I consider her a sister. She really learned how to become a leader and use her voice and knowledge about the game to impact people, help create a team and get us all on the same page." A four-year varsity player who scored 782 career points, helped the Bees to a 66-35 record in that span and led Medina to the regional semifinals as a junior, Linard is about to turn the page on high school and move on to college. "To see her grow for four years as a student, player and leader, she took huge strides," Bees coach Karen Kase said. "She helped develop our program, and we were kind of navigating that with her. She never wavered. She was strong-minded that, 'This is what I'm going to do.' She's one of the ones who helped us become elite in Northeast Ohio. "From the end of last year to this year, she became homecoming queen and she was public speaking. She was just a grownup — mature, responsible, a leader — and she wanted that pressure. She grew up." For that, Linard credits her parents and teammates. "My parents are my biggest support system," she said. "I'm so thankful for them and all they do for me. They're at every single game. My whole extended family, a lot of them are at every game. I'm so lucky to have them. "I grew a lot as not only a basketball player, but as a person. I've met so many amazing people and made so many friends I know I'm going to have the rest of my life. It was an awesome experience. I don't know where I'd be without basketball. It's such a huge part of my life. Not only the sport, but the people I've met through it." The one place Linard certainly would not have been was behind a podium, rapping to fellow students. "When she told me she was going in front of basically the entire school I almost fell out of my chair, but it was great," Kase said. "That just showed how she was coming out of her shell. It was just fun to her. It was clever and it was brave and it was fun. It was her." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.