Cool Cat: Alex Cleary
Rugby player Alexander Cleary is one of the select few people to have had the honor to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Youth Olympics in Argentina. The ceremony took the under-18 athletes through downtown Buenos Aires and across the Olympic stage.
Now, he’s a junior biology major at CWU with a specialty in ecology and evolutionary biology, and a member of Central’s rugby team. Here’s why you should know this Cool Cat.
What are your personal goals in life?
I would love to represent the United States from the national sevens team on the world stage and if I didn't play in the Olympics I would at least love to get my cap nationally … [My] personal goal… we should live a happy life, raise a family. Obviously I'd love to travel but that's my main goal -- graduate college first and then represent the U.S.
Any career goals you hope to accomplish?
Biology is something I really enjoy, and I think it gives me a lot of options for when I graduate college. I don't have a set direction... I knew I liked animals a lot, so I thought ecology and evolution biology was a lot more fun and it gives me a lot of options… I would love to be a game warden. I’ve hunted since I was young. I love hunting. I would love to work in the outdoors and protect animals from poaching, regulate conservation biology… I’d like to take a shot of professional rugby after college so will try my hand at professional rugby then go back to school.
What are like 3 fun facts about yourself?
I really like to ski…. I’m a huge MMA [Mixed Martial Arts] nerd - I followed the UFC [Ultimate Fighting Championship] religiously… Last fun fact is that I’m really into archery.
Do you have a quote you live by?
Yeah, I currently live by this personally, [MMA Fighter] Calvin Kattar just recently said it: You can't stop a man that never quits.
Where can we find you hanging out?
Depends on the season. If it's in the winter, I'm either at Alder park or at the mountain at Snoqualmie or Mission Ridge, or I am on the rugby field. And then if it's spring, probably by the Yakima River trying to go fish a little bit or I'm in the library… I am always on campus in the spring, whether that’s in the library or on the rugby field or in the SURC or in the science building.
Can you tell me a little bit more about rugby and how you got into it? Why is it a big part of your life?
It was something that was kind of unexpected. Growing up my family was super into wrestling... My dad was obsessed with wrestling, my brother wrestled… Before I turned 12 is when I started playing rugby, but before that I was playing football, I was wrestling and I was playing baseball. I was pretty good at baseball -- we won the Cal Ripken state championship when I was 10 and 11... I was super into those sports and then I had a bad experience playing baseball -- I was always the kid in the outfield that was like picking grass and super bored. Before I was all about contact - I played linebacker and I wrestled, so I just wanted to hit people. I was the younger brother: my dad played college football at Western but he also played rugby after he was done...
I think the rugby culture is awesome… I got to travel the world, been to three, four, five different countries… It’s just such a cool sport -- the fact that there's rugby fifteens, which is the 80-minute games on sand, then those sevens, which I'm obsessed with, which is like currently when they play the Olympics seven on seven 14-minute matches, so it's just like you're going and going and going it never stops.
What your favorite childhood memory?
One of my favorites was probably either when I shot my first deer... That was a big moment for me, and then probably when I scored my first try. I was like 13 or 12 years old and it was in Las Vegas. I flew down with my team. I never scored a try before and I scored it and then I was kind of freaking out… There are so many good memories from my childhood.
