Jack Little
SENIOR / VALLEY VIEW HIGH SCHOOL
OUTSTANDING PLAYER: BOYS SWIMMING
>> WHY HE WON
After a year of breaking records and winning state swimming championships, Valley View High School senior Jack Little, 18, is ready to take the next step. With his dedication to the sport and his team’s success, Little has been named the All-Arkansas Preps Outstanding Player of the Year for Boys Swimming/Diving. Little, 5-11, finished out his senior year at Valley View by helping take the Blazers to two state championships. He won in the 500-yard freestyle event (4:29.91) and was part of the school’s state-winning 200-yard medley (1:47.19) and 200-yard freestyle (1:22.44) relay teams. Little attributes his success to his work ethic. “Not that everyone else doesn’t work hard, but I feel like I can just squeeze in that extra practice and extra couple of hours just to gain an extra edge,” he said. Finishing out his senior year, Little said, he worked to show younger swimmers on the team how much dedication it takes to improve and win. “I felt a lot of responsibility [to be a role model],” he said. “It was really cool to see them enjoy the sport, so I tried to be a positive role model as best I could.” Little said the sport of swimming takes a lot of dedication because there are many multihour practice sessions each week, and they don’t get easier. “Jack has the rare qualities that becoming an elite athlete requires,” said Jo Beth Mathis, head boys and girls swim coach at Valley View High School. “His self-determination and drive to improve are unparalleled in any swimmer I have come across. Swimming is truly an individual sport at its core, and Jack’s desire to constantly improve himself to be the best is evidenced in his career.” Little said that when he was around 10, he got into swimming after watching Michael Phelps win eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. Little said he told his mother that is what he wanted to do, so she signed him up for swimming. Next year, Little will attend Arizona State University in Tempe, where he will study kinesiology and be trained by Bob Bowman, who trained Michael Phelps.
JACK HAS THE RARE QUALITIES that becoming an elite athlete requires. His self-determination and drive to improve are unparalleled in any swimmer I have come across. Swimming is truly an individual sport at its core, and Jack’s desire to constantly improve himself to be the best is evidenced in his career.” — Jo Beth Mathis, HEAD BOYS AND GIRLS SWIM COACH, VALLEY VIEW HIGH SCHOOL