Writer Adrien Vinot Prefontaine sat down with junior, Men’s Soccer player, Alex Moody.
Adrien Vinot Prefontaine: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Alex Moody: My name is Alex Moody. I’m a junior here at Virginia Wesleyan. I play on the Men’s Soccer team. I’m also one of the executives for SAAC. I major in Biology and hope to go to medical school after this.
VP: What team(s) do you most admire and why?
M: 1980 Men’s USA Hockey team, when they beat the Soviet Union in the Olympics at Lake Placid seen in “Miracle on Ice,” because there weren’t any stars on the team. They were just guys who worked hard and overcame a lot of obstacles and it was going on during the Cold War and they beat the number one team and won the gold medal that year.
VP: Favorite soccer team?
M: My favorite team is Liverpool, England.
VP: How do you view your role on the team?
M: I would say I’m a leader because we have a lot of younger guys. So as one of the few older guys, I would say I’m a leader. I’m just my work ethic. I work hard. So I try to set an example to set the standard for the rest of the team. I mean, a lot of people tell me that I’m a big part of the team. Like sometimes we have bad days when I have bad days. But, I’d say I play a big role for him.
VP: How would you rate your performances this season?
M: I played well, there was a string of games, about two or three games, where I wasn’t playing at my best. So I just had to find form again, just build the confidence back up to know what I could do on the field. It’s just getting there mentally and physically. But probably my best two games this year were against two ranked teams against UT Dallas and Covenant college that weekend. It’s when I probably played my best soccer this year.
VP: What aspect of training or coaching has helped you improve as an individual player?
M: Working hard, getting reps after practice, being coachable, having an open mind by taking all the knowledge from the coaches and other players or even running an extra mile. Also getting to know all the guys better because every year is a different dynamic. Everything starts in the weight room and at practice so being on the same page is a must to be successful.
VP: Do you have a routine or any superstitions before you play a game?
M: I like to put on my right sock, then my right cleat first, then my left sock, my left cleat and then like right before we run onto the field, I’ll get the trainer to tape my wrist.
VP: Can you describe SAAC for someone who does not know?
M: It’s the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. We are a small group on campus, composed of athletes from each team. We go over issues that we may have on campus that affect athletes directly. And we try to better them for the student athletes. For example, sometimes student athletes get out to practice late and they can’t go to the cafe because it’s closed. So we try to work with the cafeteria workers and see if they can have this open, so student athletes can eat because that’s important. We also deal with legislation, DIII legislation. When new legislation is proposed, we go over that and we have to vote on that. And it’s just a voice for student athletes on campus just to get their voice across and hopefully get the change that they need.
VP: What is your role on SAAC?
M: I’m one of the executives. We have an executive board. We don’t have a president or vice president. We just have an executive board and we lead the meetings. Figure out any stuff that we can do to like, maybe bring the student athletes together.
VP: Can new student athletes join?
M: You can go talk to your coach. The coaches will nominate, or ask you “hey, is anybody interested in joining SAAC?” and then you’ll be like, “oh, yeah, that sounds cool. I’ll be interested.” If you would like to join SAAC, it’s just going to talk to your coach. Each team has about two to three representatives. So not too many people but enough people to get the message across.
VP: Is there anything else you want to address?
M: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. It means a lot and I’m just looking forward to next year.
By Adrien Vinot Prefontaine
avinotprefontaine@vwu.edu
