HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- When it comes to serving their country, in addition to the combat boots and Army Service Uniforms, Capt. Roye Locklear, Capt. Alexander Driscoll and 1st Lt. April Ortenzo have a different uniform to put on -- uniforms that involve soccer shorts, a cycling helmet and a softball glove.
Army Sports named Locklear Coach of the Year, Driscoll Male Athlete of the Year and Ortenzo Female Athlete of the Year for 2015. The trio was honored by Army Materiel Command's Commander Gen. Dennis L. Via at the Association of the U.S. Army's Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville March 16.
Selected not only for their athletic excellence and sportsmanship, but also their integrity, community service and professional character, while each excel at a different sport, there is one thing that unites them -- they are Soldier-Athletes: outstanding athletes, but always Soldiers first.
CAPT. ROYE LOCKLEAR, COACH OF THE YEAR
Receiving the Coach of the Year award in Huntsville was a homecoming of sorts for Capt. Roye Locklear.
"I was humbled when I found out I got the award," said Locklear who graduated from Butler High School and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he joined the National Guard. "When I found out it was going to be in Huntsville I just thought, 'Wow. That's the icing on the cake.'"
As head coach of the 2015 All-Army Men's Soccer team, Locklear led his players to the Armed Forces Championship in 2015, where the team defeated the Air Force 1-0 to win the gold medal. The company commander for the 356th Quartermaster Supply Company with the Florida Army National Guard credits his players for bringing home the championship title.
"We overcame a lot of adversity," Locklear said. "I lost four of my best players to injury. By the time we got very deep into the tournament our roster was very depleted. We went into the final game with three subs, but the guys looked at it as a challenge. They were resilient. They overcame the odds and we squeaked out a 1-0 victory against the Air Force. There we were at the end of the day holding up the gold medals."
A Guardsman for nearly 25 years, Locklear was exposed to soccer at a young age while growing up in Germany, where there was really no other sport to play, he said. But it was more than it being the only option that drew Locklear to the soccer field.
"The passion that the Europeans and the Germans had for the game -- I just kind of fell in love with it," he said. "I took on the same passion for the game, and it's something I still have to this day."
Locklear played professionally after college until he sustained a career-ending knee injury. Knowing his professional career was done, when he found out the Army had a soccer team, he tried out to see if he was still able to play at a high level. Making the squad in 2007, Locklear played for one year, and then went on to serve as the assistant coach in 2009. In 2010 he took on the responsibility of head coach, a title he has held for the past five years.
"The game is the best teacher," Locklear said. "Sometimes as coaches we tend to overanalyze and overemphasize stuff. If we just set the right conditions and put the players in the right environment the game oftentimes will be the best teacher."
CAPT. ALEXANDER DRISCOLL, MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
When Capt. Alexander Driscoll found out he was the Male Athlete of the Year, he thought they had the wrong guy.
"This wasn't even on my radar," Driscoll, a cyclist, said of the honor. "I just want to go out and have a great time and ride my bike to represent the military. It's just another outlet for me in terms of being able to represent the United States Army. I'm proud to be here."
Driscoll's 2015 accomplishments include being a U.S. Armed Forces Cycling team member, finishing 55th in the individual 131-kilometer road race, and ninth in the men's team road race at the 2015 Military World Games, a professional/Olympic caliber competition -- and that's only a few of the races he completed.
A Division I runner when he was a student at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, Driscoll had grown tired of running and decided to give cycling a try after getting involved with his brother's nonprofit organization, Adventures for the Cure, which raises money for various charities through cycling events.
"It's the idea of pushing my body to the limit," Driscoll said of what he likes about the sport. "I've always been an endurance athlete. I like the camaraderie of the team that I'm on; it's good to have a good group of guys -- we can all relate to each other and build off of each other."
On average Driscoll trains for 10-20 hours a week, competing in around 15-20 races per racing season, with the end goal being able to compete at the professional level in the United States, keeping up with those who cycle for a living.
"It's a lot of discipline," he said. "For me it comes down to rest, recovery and what you do the rest of the hours of the day after you get off your bike. It's not just getting on your bike every day and riding. Once you get the cycling down it's everything else that starts adding up that helps you compete at the level you're competing at."
1st LT. APRIL ORTENZO, FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
1st Lt. April Ortenzo knows that when it comes to softball, she plays for the name on the front of her uniform, not the back.
"The Army is definitely my number one priority," Ortenzo said. "Softball is a luxury that I get. I truly believe that playing All-Army was such an honor to be able to represent people that have come before me, people that have died, and people that are fighting now. It's a game but it represents so much more than that."
As the starting shortstop for the All-Army Softball team in 2015, Ortenzo and her teammates swept the Armed Forces Championship 9-0 to win the gold medal. For her part, Ortenzo batted .575. Winning gold was one of the most memorable moments of her life, according to Ortenzo.
"The team was so successful this year," said Ortenzo, who was also named to the 2015 All-Armed Forces National All-Star team, which took home the national championship. "It was a very young team, all rookies except for two. Our team as a whole -- we did not know how to lose. That's the best way to put it. Our team did not know how to lose. We came together no matter what the circumstances and games, and definitely had fighters on the team that were very skilled. It was an awesome team to be a part of."
For the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native, the opportunity to play for All-Army Sports is the highlight of a lifetime spent on the softball diamond. A graduate of West Point, Ortenzo has been playing some form of ball, whether it be T-ball, baseball or softball, for as long as she can remember.
"I just feel at home on the field," she said. "It's the foundation of where I got my leadership skills, where I learned how to be a teammate, how to be a part of a team, how to follow before I could lead, how I could fight through adversity, everything. Softball correlates so much to the Army and leadership. That's truly where I feel at home."
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