FEATURED ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Chloe LaPierre, North Putnam

Chloe LaPierre is a senior at North Putnam who participates in softball. She previously competed in swimming and volleyball.

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Banner Graphic: What sports have you played besides softball?

Chloe LaPierre: “My junior year I played volleyball. It was fun to play with the girls and get to know everyone. My sophomore year I swam. I was a diver, and broke the school record. I liked softball better, so I wanted to focus on that. I have done travel ball for five years now.”

BG: What do you like better about softball than the other sports?

CL: “There’s not a lot of running. I hate running. I’ve always loved softball, and it’s always been my favorite sport. I’ve gained a lot of friendships through softball. I like hitting better than pitching. I don’t enjoy pitching, but I do it. I hurt my shoulder in my freshman year, but I’m going to try to pitch again this year.”

BG: What have you learned from sports?

CL: “Sports keeps me in shape a lot, and I love that. It has built a lot of friendships, and I have developed a good sense of teamwork. I love getting together and learning new things and bonding with a team.”

BG: What are your plans for after high school?

CL: “I’m going to go to Ball State to study social work to work with kids with disabilities. Recently, I have interned with Putnam County Comprehensive Services, which works with disabled adults. I enjoy working with them, and I gained a love of working with them.”

BG: What else do you do at school besides sports?

CL: “I am involved in Key Club and the Student Athlete Leadership Team. In SALT, we get together and come up with ways to get students and faculty to get involved with the sports and come to the events more. We also work with Champions Together, and I play in the games with them. That also helped me to decide my career. This is the first year for the SALT club, but I think in the future it will get bigger.”

BG: Have any particular classes or teachers helped you to get where you are?

CL: “This was my first year to have Mrs. [Kristy] Lippencott, but she’s the best math teacher I’ll ever have. She loves math, and it’s inspiring how much she loves it. She loves helping people. Mr. [Joseph] Cialkowski is the funniest teacher out of all of them.”

BG: What activities do you do outside of school?

CL: “I love to hang out with my friends and family, besides playing travel ball. We live on a lake, so I’m always on the lake in the summer. We play travel tournaments indoors in the winter, but they’re not my favorite. Outdoor is a lot better. In indoor tournaments, there are nets everywhere and the hits you get depend on where you hit the ball. It’s not very warm, but it’s better than outside in the cold. You get your swings in, and it’s good practice. It’s better than nothing.”

BG: How is the North Putnam softball team looking this year?

CL: “I think we’re going to be pretty good. We have a young team with no juniors and no freshmen. Four seniors and the rest all sophomores. The sophomores are really strong, and are going to be a good athletic class when they’re seniors. We have four pitchers, and we’re looking good in practice. Hopefully we play as well in the games as we’ve looked in practice. I’ve had a different coach every year. Mr. [Jarrod] Duff is our coach this year, and he’s a good coach. I like him a lot.”

BG: What do you like to do for entertainment when you have time?

CL: “My favorite movie is ‘The Notebook’, and I watch Netflix all the time. My favorite show on it is ‘One Tree Hill’, even though they just took it off of there. It’s on Hulu, so I’ve been watching it there. I like both romantic movies and comedies, and in music during softball and football season – I’m a big football fan – I listen to rap to get myself hyped up. When it’s not game day, I listen to country.”

BG: What is your greatest fear?

CL: “Ants. They are the worst thing ever. They creep me out when I see a big group of them crawling everywhere. I can’t do it.”

BG: What is something you have never done before that you would like to do someday?

CL: “I would like to go to Bora Bora, where they have the houses in the water on stilts. I like hot weather, and I’ve seen pictures of it.”

BG: What are you favorite and least favorite foods?

CL: “My mom makes these stuffed peppers on my birthday. It’s really hard to make, so she doesn’t make it very often. My least favorite is spaghetti. I do not like it at all.”

BG: If you were to describe your personality in one word, what word would it be?

CL: “Outgoing. I like to make people laugh and smile. I always try to cheer people up, and I like to cheer at the games.”

BG: Your last name sounds French. Do you have relatives from France?

CL: “We don’t know, actually. My mom just got my dad a DNA test, and he hasn’t done it yet. That will help with our genealogy. We know we’re French, but we don’t know how far back or from which part of the country.”

BG: Do you have any goals for the rest of your senior year?

CL: “I’d like to win the county in softball, and be named all-county and all-conference. I hope we come out with a winning season. Hopefully we accomplish those goals. I am hoping to get all A’s; I only have three classes, and I like that better since it’s easier to concentrate on each one.”

BG: Summarize your overall North Putnam experience.

CL: “My mom went to Brownsburg, and my dad went to school in Elkhart. They met down the road, and they moved here. I’ve always gone to school here, and I have thought I might want to go to a big school but I never got the courage to try that. I like the small schools because you get to know everyone; there are no secrets. You see your friends on every passing period. I like North Putnam for both the teachers and the sports. At a school like Brownsburg, it’s tougher for everyone to get to play. Here there aren’t really tryouts, and people who are not the best athletes but who want to get involved in something get a chance to do that.”

BG: Do you have any special skills?

CL: “When I ski, I can slalom on one foot. I put a foot in the handle. It’s pretty hard, and you have to have a lot of balance.”

BG: Do you have any pets?

CL: “We had two cats and a dog, but two of them died this year so we are down to one cat. His name is Jack, and he’s a big, cuddly black and white cat. He lays around all day.”

BG: Have you decided where you want to live when you’re done with college?

CL: “I haven’t really decided yet. I’d like to try something new. I don’t think I want to come back to Putnam County; maybe a different state or a different country. I’d like to explore my options.”