Alex Gallagher, a junior at Hudson High School, has recently announced his commitment to the University of Kentucky for his swimming via an Instagram post. Gallagher has had a prolific season with the Hudson High School swim team. In fact, Gallagher is currently ranked 4th in Ohio with an array of accolades which include 1st place in the 100 yard Breast and 200 yard IM at Northeast Districts as well as finishing 5th in the 100 yard Breast at the OHSAA Division I State Championship. He was even featured on the Akron Beacon Journal on March 1, 2021 on his performance in the Swimming and Diving Championships at the C.T. Branin Natatorium. Keep in mind that this was done last year, as a sophomore! Now as a junior, it will be very interesting to see what Gallagher can do in the upcoming swim season.
Gallagher said that his sister got him into swimming. He said that he “couldn’t have gotten here without her help” and that originally, he had played baseball but became injured. Gallagher goes on to explain further that his aspirations are the people around him and his family members. Having such a strong relationship with friends and family is crucial in any part of life and is true for sports as well. Gallagher says that the people he has met in USA Swimming, club swimming and high school swimming are a very welcoming and open community that are full of people that are “respectful, humble, and very successful and hardworking.” These outlets of various swimming groups can allow many swimmers to connect with people not only in their school but people in other states or even internationally. Swimming connects you with so many different people and it builds character.
Gallagher’s strengths in swimming include his explosiveness and his sense of awareness. He says that he has a sense of awareness in the sense that he does what is best for his team as well as “working on his craft” and making sure he can be the best “Alex Gallagher” he can be. These strengths not only help with swimming but can be applied in school or even in the workforce. In this day and age, many companies are looking for people that can take charge and do what’s right but at the same time, take a step back and learn from other people. Finding that “awareness” level truly requires self reflection and to really stop and think about what it is that you are truly trying to accomplish. Gallagher talks in detail about his training regimen and how he doesn’t want to let the team down the same way he wouldn’t want that team to let him down. That sort of mentally is one and few and is a great skill in the future.
Gallagher says that to find the right college, it was more of a challenge to “connect with new people,” rather than finding said college. He mentioned that once he is done with swimming, he would need to find a career path and having those connections established now helps in the long run. Gallagher is thinking of going into a business related field. “Putting yourself out there”, as Gallagher puts it, is very important when it comes to finding a good college and is something that is often overlooked in the college decision process. Making sure that what you want to do as a person lines up with the college’s aspirations also come into play, and all of this would not be possible without being up front. As mentioned earlier, Gallagher is going to the University of Kentucky.
One piece of advice Gallagher gives to the underclassmen is to “focus on getting a good education” and to “make new friends.” Gallagher emphasizes that if you can’t be “yourself” around your friends, those are not your true friends. Talking to other upperclassmen at the high school, many other students including Elliott Flippo, a junior, claim that being friends with people just “happens” and that the only thing stopping you from becoming friends with someone is yourself.
In order to stand out from the crowd, like Gallagher, it takes determination and grit. Not many people have that, and that’s okay. But for the ones that do have the willpower to overcome challenges, just know that it is possible if you put your mind to it. Many different athletes, whether it be track or whether it be the football team, have a side that no one sees. A side that gets up early to go on a run, a side that stays after school to run some film with the team and coach, a side that is oftentimes forgotten. Achievements are not made overnight, but rather by a continuation of good habits over and over again. Just like how you would not go into a test without studying, there’s a reason why there are practices in sports. The ones that constantly prepare themselves for the next hurdles are the ones that win the race.
