By Murphy McCullough, Net News Contributor
Throughout its 50-year history, ALTA has provided so much more than tennis to its thousands of members. And for at least one Atlanta native, playing ALTA has added a new, amusing dimension to his interesting life. Meet Alex Hicks.
After finishing high school, Hicks enlisted in the military and served eight years in the Army. He then returned to Atlanta as an Army reservist and joined the police force. When asked about why he choose this line of work, he replied, “It was an easy decision for me. I liked the sense of brotherhood and comradery it has.” Hicks currently works for the Cobb County School District Police Department as a canine officer. His partner is a firearms detection dog, who searches public school campuses across the metropolitan area. Hicks finds being a police officer a rewarding job, especially in his current role.
When he is not serving his community or hunting down firearms, you can find Hicks at his neighborhood tennis courts. He joined ALTA in 2019 after being encouraged by his wife to play. “Tennis was a good excuse to help get fit, but I really loved going out and meeting new people,” Hicks said.
Being new to the game, he started on a C8 team playing out of his neighborhood of Legacy Park. Hicks quickly found success with this Mixed Doubles team in the summer of 2020, winning line 5 to help his team clinch the City Championship. He went on to play in the City Finals again this past winter and secured his mixed team’s first and only overall point. Even though the team didn’t get the result it wanted, Hicks said going to the City Finals was a great experience. He describes it as “having a great atmosphere … an x-factor that is hard to replicate.” It also was his first time at the event outside of the pandemic.
ALTA, by definition, is just a tennis league, but for many people, including Hicks, it can serve a greater purpose. “Sometimes you get a call at 7 p.m. and have to deal with a serious situation, but then you are out playing tennis the next day at 8 am. Tennis helps keep me grounded,” Hicks explained.
Additionally, ALTA allows people like Hicks to learn from the sport itself. He says tennis has helped him become more patient and has taught him how to persevere. He stated, “Tennis isn’t easy, and when I first started it was frustrating, but I just stuck with it and it’s been a fun thing to tackle. “Tackling tennis and protecting the public … nice work, Officer Hicks.
