By Conner Shaffer-

Alexander Hale is a sophomore currently involved in baseball, football and wrestling. Alex said “I go out for sports to stay in shape, and be healthy. It’s just something to do.”

Alex talked about how baseball is his favorite sport; he said “baseball is just all-around fun, I think I like it the most because I don’t have school in the summer, so it’s just that much sweeter.” Alex loves everything about baseball: the temperature, the field, the fans and the concession stand after the games.

Alex also competes in football. Teammate Carson Kuntz, sophomore, said “Alex Hale competes as hard as he possibly can and he does not give up.” Alex loves the game and said, “I don’t play sports just to stay in shape; I love the challenges and just competing with others.”

Although Alex isn’t afraid to get a couple scrapes or bruises, Alex has only had one serious injury in his life. It happened in Kindergarten during a recess game. “I wasn’t the fastest kid, so I was usually it for the game (don’t touch the rocks). I was running on the cement looking for somebody to tag, and all of a sudden I tripped on a crack in the cement and. BAM! I face planted into the cement.” Sliding face first on the cement, Alex’s nose met up with yet another crack in the cement and ripped his nose open. “I consider myself pretty lucky, injury wise that is,” Alex said.

“Game days are very exciting, obviously, I can’t wait to get on the field or mat depending on what sport.” Alex dreads going to wrestling and football practices, but the games and meets are well worth it. “Saturday meets are terrible, I have to be at the school at 6:30 and the meet usually lasts all day.” “It’s a very long and boring day, except when there is a big match or one of my teammates are wrestling for first place.” Wrestling teammate Trey Ryan said, “Alex is a great teammate even if he didn’t do so well that meet, you always hear him cheering others on from the sideline, he is always encouraging others to work harder in the wrestling room.”

Alex Hale is just like every other competitor you will meet. He absolutely hates to lose. “One game I will never forget is the game where I rolled both of my ankles and still continued to play. All though we ended up losing, I felt proud of my teammates and myself.”

Alex has had to some pretty hard practices in his high school sports career, doing wrestling and football. Everybody that knows about Mount Vernon wrestling is well aware of how hard the practices are and how much is expected from each wrestler individually as well as a team. What drives Alex to keep on keeping on you ask? Well Alex said; “I don’t see myself as a quitter, everybody else goes through the same practices. If they can do it, so can I.”

Alex has had some ups and downs in sports, but he promises he will keep going at it and working on getting better. His favorite memory from playing a sport is actually not from baseball, wrestling, nor is it from football. “My favorite memory from a sport is actually playing wiffle ball at Trey Ryan’s house. We usually have a bunch of friends over and have teams of two and do tournament play.” “Sometimes we get a little bit…… rowdy and out of hand you could say, but never too serious.”

Alex Hale is athletic and loves to be active; he also loves to play tennis and is upset about Mount Vernon High School not having a boys tennis team. “I enjoy tennis and would love to have a team with the school, but playing on my free time will have to do for now.”