COQUILLE — Katlyn Shaw can’t tell you what it’s like to see clearly out of both her eyes.

The Coquille senior was born with 20-400 vision — she can only see outlines of objects with her left eye while her right eye is perfect.

But don’t expect her to complain about it. She wouldn’t even tell her coaches about her condition at first.

“I never thought about using it as an excuse,” Shaw said.

Her eyesight certainly hasn’t kept Shaw from a standout sports career.

She’s been the most prolific scorer in soccer in recent years on the South Coast, and last fall was named Far West League most valuable player and a first-team all-state selection.

In basketball, she’s become one of the top defenders in the Sunset Conference, with a knack for stealing the ball. As an undersized post — she is about 5-feet-6-inches tall — Shaw often has drawn the toughest defensive assignments inside, battling her opponents with tenacious effort.

“In my head, I’m 6-foot down there,” she said. “It’s fun. I feel more comfortable down there.”

Shaw has been a dream player for her coaches.

“What a great kid,” said Coquille basketball coach Jennifer Sproul. “She is my most improved kid I’ve had. She just works and works and works.”

The same is true in soccer, where she had much better natural ability.

“Katlyn’s one of those kids that comes around in a program every five or six or seven years, especially in soccer programs,” said soccer coach Mark Usselman. “That type of kid with that drive in a sport — she’s got that drive, she’s got the intelligence, the perseverance, the push, the family support. It’s all there for her.”

Usselman knew Shaw was special right away.

“When she came in as a freshman, I knew the potential was there and it was just a matter of her honing her skills,” he said.

Coaches, Ussleman said, can teach the basics and fundamentals of a sport. As for all the techniques of team play, strategy and game management, “they’re the ones that have to put it together,” he said.

Shaw has done that, while making all her teammates better.

Soccer is her favorite sport and the one she will play in college — she has signed a letter of intent to play for Lane Community College, with her ultimate dream to then transfer to the powerhouse program at the University of Portland.

“The next two years, I’m going to work as hard as I can to get there,” she said.

Shaw can’t get enough of the sport — she watches the Soccer Channel all the time at home and will compete in track this spring just to stay in shape for college soccer.

But that doesn’t mean she isn’t totally committed to basketball.

This season, she said, has been a blast.

“I think we’ve done awesome,” she said.

With a win over Oregon Episcopal in the playoffs tonight, Coquille would earn a spot in the Class 3A state tournament, a big jump from the two league wins the team had when Shaw and her fellows were sophomores struggling through the school’s final year in the Far West League.

“I’m so excited,” Shaw said.

The only regret she has about her high school career is that she gave up on basketball her freshman year.

“I quit two weeks in, during Thanksgiving break,” she said. “I was burnt out.”

She realized her mistake, returned for her sophomore season, and has been improving ever since.

Sproul was delighted to have her back, especially because of her personality.

“She’s extremely competitive,” Sproul said. “She doesn’t want to lose. There’s no telling her she can go half speed.”

That includes even routine sprints in practice.

“I have to win — in everything,” Shaw said, listing family card games and 4-H horse shows as well as drills during workouts.

In practice, just like in games, Shaw goes 110 percent all the time.

“I don’t like to slow down,” she said. “It’s easier for me to go, go, go.”

Sproul said that attitude is good for the rest of the team.

“She’s all out,” Sproul said. “That’s contagious. As long as she’s on the court, she makes us better.”

Shaw’s speed also plays a big role in Coquille’s success in games.

“She loves to run the floor,” Sproul said. “She’s so quick.”

Shaw often is the first player down the floor on fast breaks. On defense, she’s frequently forcing the turnovers.

“She works hard, defensively especially,” Sproul said. “She gets a lot of steals from being in the right place at the right time.”

Emily Usselman, Shaw’s teammate in both soccer and basketball, is impressed with Shaw’s all-around game.

“She’s just good,” Usselman said. “She’s probably one of the quickest people we have. She posts up so good. And she can jump so high.”

Usselman thinks nothing of Shaw’s eyesight.

“It’s turned into a joke on the basketball court,” she said. “We laugh about it. That’s all we can do.”

Shaw admits she might miss an occasional pass because she can’t see it coming quickly enough.

She has worked hard to make sure her vision doesn’t impact her ability to shoot layins or jumpers. She’s also become an adequate free throw shooter despite both her vision and a pair of broken arms in middle school — she broke her right arm and chipped its growth plate when she flipped a four-wheeler and suffered a broken left arm in two places when she was kicked by a horse — that keep her from being able to put any spin on her shots like most players can.

“I’ve tried to fix it 100 times, and it doesn’t work,” she said of her shooting motion.

But as with everything else, she never makes excuses about it.

Sproul clearly remembers learning about Shaw’s eyesight, when she repeatedly missed passes during a practice her sophomore year.

“As coaches, we were frustrated with her for not catching the ball,” Sproul said, adding that Shaw finally admitted not being able to see the ball coming during the drill after being yelled at several times. “She didn’t want to tell us (why). She’s a no-excuse kid. She just goes out and goes hard.

“It says a lot about her personality.”

Mark Usselman, who also helps coach Coquille’s softball team, finds Shaw’s accomplishments amazing.

“I wouldn’t put it past her if she decided to go out in softball, she’d do OK,” he said. “That’s the type of kid she is. If she wanted to do another sport that takes hand-eye coordination, I wouldn’t put it past her.

“She’s a gifted athlete with a minor disability.”

Or none at all.

“It’s not a disability,” Shaw said. “It’s just how I am.”