Hi John, my name is Ted Hunt and I am Alexandra’s father.

Growing up in a household where her father was a former college soccer player and a lifelong coach, I suppose that it was inevitable that she would gravitate to the “beautiful game.”

Not surprisingly, though, she chose to follow her own path as she developed as a soccer player and I still remember the night that she told me that she preferred that I not serve as her club coach. But I admired her forthrightness and her desire to create her own identity in this area. And, boy, did she develop her own identity.

By the time she had risen to our school’s varsity team, she had become the team’s “Number Ten.” In the world of soccer, if one is identified as a “Number Ten,” it is about more than a uniform number. It means that the player is in the center of all activity on the field- the defense, the attack, the leadership. I have often thought of the Number Ten as the “hub of the wheel.”

Alexandra always played that position exactly the way that it was designed to be played. She was the first defender to attempt to break down the other team’s attack, she moved the ball around to her teammates so that everyone was involved. She scored goals, she tallied assists. Even in her sophomore year in high school, she was the team’s leader, and her teammates looked to her for guidance and inspiration, both on and off the field.

During one of her high school games, Alexandra attacked the other team’s goal and easily could have shot the ball and probably would have scored. But instead she passed to a girl with much less skill. The girl missed the shot. After the game I asked her why she had passed the ball when she could have scored herself. Alexandra responded that she wanted to show the other girl that she believed in her.

That’s what Number Tens do; that’s how leaders act. As I look at Alexandra today, it is clear that she still looks to play the Number Ten role in the various missions of her life. Running for Congress is simply another manifestation of her lifelong desire to help bring about success for the people she cares about by putting herself into that central leadership role.

If one wants to anticipate how she would act if she were fortunate enough to be elected to Congress, I would say look no farther than how she conducted herself on the soccer field. No one will work harder; no one will push herself more.

The success and happiness of each and every one of her constituents will be first and foremost in her mind, perhaps even more so for those who normally are overlooked and underserved. She will conduct herself with the knowledge that the talents and dreams of every single individual are essential in creating a community that celebrates justice and dignity. In short, she will be “the hub of the wheel.”

Alexandra is rapidly coming up on her end of quarter fundraising deadline which will be the last opportunity for her and the team to show the public how much the campaign has raised before their May 17th election. Can I count on you to chip in $5 or whatever you can spare to help them close out the quarter stronger than ever?

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