Ken
Alexander
1. What’s your age? 28 (As of May 10th). 2. What age were you when you started playing Ultimate? I started playing competitively (for waX) when I was 17 - prior to that I had just played pick up games with Derek and Bill in league.
3. How did you hear of the sport, who introduced you? Billy and Derek - they had been playing for a year previous to me.
4. Who started playing first of the four of you? Concensus = Billy
5. What sports had you played before Ultimate? Whatever sports Jamie made us play! But seriously, baseball, basketball, and martial arts were the sports that I actually competed in, but I enjoyed playing other sports as well.
6. How long have you (4) now been playing together on the same team? Off and on for the past 3 seasons
7. Are you aware that you four could be the first in the history of the sport to all be playing at the premier level, on one team? Whatcha think of that? I hadn’t really thought about it in that context. It’s kind of cool if you think about it that way though. But, I grew up playing sports with them so I didn’t really give a second thought to it.
8. Do you have a nickname, if so. . . What is it, and why? I have a couple: “kfa”, or “casual ken” are the most common. Kfa is a nickname chris sullivan gave to me at practice one time, way back, and it kind of stuck. I get called “casual ken” though because I’ve been accused of making some bigger plays and being pretty non- chalant about it.
9. What’s your best strength in the game? As a fairly experienced player, I am able to read the play pretty
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instictively. My experience allows me to get open in all offensive sets. I like to think that I make the most of my athletic abilities paired with my understanding of the game to make smart decisions and be a dangerous offensive cutter.
10. Where are you the weakest? My weakest point would be my “work ethic” on the field. My ability to push myself to what I know are my limits - turning on that switch to give everything I have all the time.
11. Do you four get along? If not. . . . Who’s the biggest jerk? :-) Or have you all grown up now and there’s less drama, and more camaraderie? I’d have to give that to Jamie – he can be the biggest jerk, haha. I can take a close second though if you know which buttons to push (which, these three all do). The camaraderie is pretty good, but things can get a little intense because we tend to be harder on each other than on other teammates.
12. Are you doing anything to overcome your weakness? If so. . . What? I have to say, in the past I’ve never really put much into it. But I think a lot of that was being able to identify it. . . I think I’ve finally started to accept that what can be called “laziness” is my weakness on the field. This year I plan on holding myself to a higher level of acceptable play for me - pushing myself to the limit etc.
13. What gets you in gamemode? Music? Cheers? The look in your teammate’s eyes? The quest for
gold? What? I warm up to music. But what really gets me going and in the zone to play my best games are during the big games of tournaments (elimination games like quarters, semi’s and finals) or when we’re playing teams that we’re, statistically, supposed to lose to.
14. How are you finding the travel to tournaments? Tired of it? Counting the days? Traveling itself isn’t a big deal - I actually like the car rides. It’s a good time to hang out with your teammates, as well as prepare yourself for the games. I am really looking forward to traveling to prague as well.
15. What championships have you won? The only national championships that I’ve won were as a junior in ‘99 (worlds qualifying year). That is the only big win that I would count as a legitimate championship.
16. Which ones have you not won?. . . And are you holding out until you win them? Everything else! I’d like to win a national championship in the
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