Nate Halek, varsity tennis player
“Nate Halek is Cranford varsity tennis first singles player. Nate is a four year varsity player who demonstrates leadership on and off the court. Nate’s level head and respect for the game, his opponent, and himself is something other student athletes could use and learn from for their
own success. Nate plans on attending Union County College in the fall, with plans to attend Villanova University soon after.”
— Coach Robert Caparruva
What is your most prized possession?
“My most prized possession is my Bible because it gives me direction
for how I am supposed to live my life.”
If you could have three wishes, what would they be?
“My first wish would be to end world hunger and that everybody would have access to clean water. So many people die from a lack of food and clean water, and nobody should have to live like that when most, if not all, people in the U.S. have clean water. My next wish would be that everybody has someone that loves them because there is not enough of that today. Finally I wish that I was debt free and owed nobody anything.”
If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
“The one food I would eat for the rest of my life would be pizza because it has everything you need to survive. It has cheese for dairy, crust for carbs, pepperoni for the meat, grease for the healthy oils and tomato sauce for a vegetable.”
Which famous person would you like to meet?
“I have not met anyone famous, but I would like to meet Roger Federer. He is arguably the best tennis player of all time. Everything he does is classy and he never gets overly mad.”
What are your future plans?
“I am going to be stringing tennis rackets for a business my friend started and I am going to be cutting lawns. I will also be volunteering for my church and another church’s vacation Bible school.”
What is your best quality?
“I always have positive attitude and I always look at the positive side of things. I try to encourage people on what they do right instead of putting them down for what they did wrong.”
What are your favorite hobbies?
“I really like to play table tennis and I like to build things. I like making pens and other things out of wood.”
Do you have an idea for an invention?
“I would invent a bike that can be converted into a snow machine. You can ride your bike on the road one minute and the next you could be riding down a snow-covered hill.”
What would you do with $1 million?
“I would first give the 10 percent to my church and then I would pay off all of my debt if I had any, and I would put a down payment on a house. I would save the rest of the money for expenses, and invest the rest.”
What is your most memorable moment?
“My most memorable moment was when I went on a bike trip to Princeton with my brother and a couple of my friends. When we arrived at Princeton we bought some pizza and went to the train to get back home. But when we went to buy our tickets, I realized I did not have enough money. I asked everybody if they had any money but they were all out of money too. After I realized we would have to make do with what we had, I saw that you could save one dollar by taking a train to a transition point and then to our desired location. So my brother and I bought the tickets and met our friends at the start of our trip.”