Cinderella slipper fits for Downum

El Dorado's Alexis Downum is a finalist for 2018 News-Times Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Downum, an all-state tennis player, finished with a 4.2381 grade point average. The News-Times Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet will be held May 31 at College Avenue Church of Christ.
El Dorado's Alexis Downum is a finalist for 2018 News-Times Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Downum, an all-state tennis player, finished with a 4.2381 grade point average. The News-Times Scholar-Athlete Awards Banquet will be held May 31 at College Avenue Church of Christ.

By Tony Burns

Sports Editor

In sports, it’s called a Cinderella Story when an unlikely athlete comes out of nowhere to achieve things few thought were possible. The glass slipper fit Alexis Downum this past fall during the high school tennis season.

Downum, a senior, was the No. 2 singles player at El Dorado. After missing a chunk of the season, she returned to the court after her second surgery and ended up earning All-State honors for the Lady Wildcats. Now, months later, the pride in what she accomplished hasn’t grown old.

“I just came from, like not even playing in 10th grade to ending up all-state my senior year,” said Downum “That hadn’t happened in awhile - a girl from El Dorado getting all-state. All the other girls had been playing a lot longer than I had and I ended doing really well.”

Playing at No. 2 singles, Downum was undefeated during the regular season. She would end up finishing third in the conference and, after advancing to the state semifinals, she finished fourth in the 6A State Tournament.

“I just worked really hard, practiced every single day - hours. I would go from school practice and then I would go to my trainer until eight o’clock at night and then go home and do my homework. It was a lot of late nights,” said Downum, who also had to overcome adversity in the form of physical issues.

“I was in so much pain. I had the same problem the year before and I decided to stick it out and wait until the end of the season to have the surgery. It probably wasn’t the best decision because I just didn’t play as good as I probably could have. And then my senior year, I ended up having the same problem at the beginning of the season. I just couldn’t go on.

“We kind of timed it right and had the surgery so I’d just miss a couple of games. When I got back on the court, I had 12 days before conference. I had missed two weeks. I was just trying to get back to where I was.”

Downum’s run through the conference and state tournaments was just sort of … like a fairy tale. Everything clicked at the perfect time.

“I think all the hard work just paid off,” she said. “My trainer taught me a lot of new tricks and shots. I was able to just pull it all together and utilize all that stuff. It just all worked out.”

Downum’s timing always seemed to be better-late-than-never when it came to sports. Tennis was the last one she tried.

“I was probably about five when I started playing soccer. I played soccer up until eighth grade. I did swim about the same time I played soccer. I played softball and I played volleyball until 10th grade. I actually started playing tennis my 10th grade year. That’s the first time I actually picked up a racquet,” she said.

“It was the day before tryouts for the tennis team. I went to Wal-Mart, bought this cheap, little racquet. I was like, ‘I’m going to try out for the tennis team. It sounds like fun.’ So, I went and I made the team. And then I started getting some private lessons. I worked that whole summer because tryouts were in the spring. Spring of my freshman year was when I tried out. That summer and fall, I played at least three times a week that summer, learned a lot because I had no clue about anything about tennis. I don’t even think I knew it was a sport before then. I, honestly, had never heard of it. I just fell in love with it. I did.”

Downum admitted part of the allure of tennis was the individual nature of the sport. She doesn’t consider herself, necessarily, a team player.

“I feel like I am if I’m around the right people. It’s just so hard to find people that have a good work ethic and apply themselves as much as I feel I do,” she said. “Tennis just suits me. I can go out there and practice as much as I want. I went to USTA tournaments all summer long. I can do those by myself.”

Maybe that’s why Downum was so successful academically. She boasted a 4.2381 grade point average and plans to attend Harding University in Searcy.

“I’m going to go there for one year and get my general stuff and then go to UAMS to study radiology,” she said.

“I have a strong faith. It’s a Church of Christ school and I just wanted to be in that kind of environment.”

For Downum, the plan is one year at Harding and then two year-round years at UAMS. She hopes to graduate with a bachelor’s of science in radiology.

“I have gotten hurt so many times. I’ve been around that. It just seems really interesting and neat to know how all that works and just the patient interaction. I’m looking forward to it,” said Downum, who was asked if she had a back-up plan if the radiology stuff wasn’t what she thought it would be.

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to like this but my Plan B is in business. They have a good business school at Harding so if I get up there and find out I like it and don’t want to leave then I might just do that.”

A bit of excitement could be detected in Downum’s voice and in her eyes as she looked ahead to college. She’s almost in a hurry to get there.

“Very much. I can do my own thing. I can find people there with a lot of the same interests. I can take classes I enjoy. I’m just real excited to be out on my own and with people who share the same values,” said Downum, who admitted to having a very small circle of friends at El Dorado.

“I probably had one to two close friends. That’s how I liked it,” she said with a shrug.

“I was just quiet. I just stayed to myself.”

On her list of extracurricular activities, there’s more church and tennis than there are school clubs. She listed National Honor Society, Beta Club and Steering Committed but added, “I do a lot more volunteering outside of the school instead of being in the club stuff.”

As for good, old EHS?

“It was OK. I went there to get an education.”

Downum sort of laughed at her own lack of rah-rah school spirit. Her accomplishments were many and she chose to celebrate them with those closest to her because they didn’t come easily.

“I have to work a lot to get where I am. I have to study,” she said.

No, Cinderella’s slipper wasn’t a perfect fit for Downum. But, once she got it on, she wore it well, especially on the tennis court. In fact, the clock nearly struck midnight before the ball even began.

In the state tournament, Downum lost the first set of her first-round match, 6-7 to Mountain Home’s Elizabeth Lewis. She rallied to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-2 before she beat Searcy’s Kamie Provence 6-4, 6-4 in a tight two-setter.

Even though she lost in the semifinals to Greenwood’s Olivia Gaston, 6-1, 7-5, Downum reflected on it fondly.

“The semifinal match was the toughest one. I left everything on the court after that semifinal match. I put everything I had into that one,” she said. “That was the best I’d ever played against that girl because I had played her many times. That was the best I played against her so I was pretty happy with how I played.”

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