Cortier takes the Court The Gregg Schindler State Farm Male Athlete of the month for March 2022: Alex Cortier As one of the captains on the boys varsity tennis team, Alex Cortier demonstrates his talent for the sport. By Sofia Chianella With leadership experience in band as well as NJROTC, J.W. Mitchell High School junior Alex Cortier earned a spot as one out of the three captains on the tennis team, after starting the sport just one year ago. Starting to play tennis as a way to kill time before band, Cortier soon joined the tennis team along with his friends. “Last year it wasn’t that big, so all of our friends just basically showed up and made the team, and got better from there. But this year we had an actual tryout where some people made it and some people didn’t,” Cortier said. As the team developed, they were split into a travel team and a practice squad, leading the players to travel to different matches around different
26 MARCH 2022
At warm ups before his match on March 3, Alex Cortier prepares to face his opponent. Photo by Colson Gantt schools as well as park locations for their events. Cortier made the roster for the travel team. “I feel like the longest trip that we’ve made is around an hour away from school, so we get a Student Related Absence for 6th and 7th period,” Cortier said. Although Cortier was
able to progress in such a short amount of time, he labels his inexperience as the most difficult aspect of the sport. “Starting is like the worst thing, because you’re behind everyone. But after a couple months, it gets to the fun part,” Cortier said. The team’s humorous
relationship is the best part of the experience for Cortier, as he has been able to joke around with his teammates. “We all make fun of each other. It’s kind of like a back-and-forth thing, but it’s all in good fun,” Cortier said. As one of the team’s captains, Cortier realized
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