Alex LeRoy was born hard of hearing and with a cleft palate and lip. He has gone through 18 surgeries and continues to face difficulties. Today, he struggles with hearing and speaking clearly. But, these obstacles have not stopped Alex from finding and following his dreams. His dreams, however, are not a typical 14-year-old boy’s. 

In 2020, while making a men’s NCAA March Madness bracket with his family, Alex asked his mom, “Isn’t there a women’s tournament too?” Lori, Alex’s mom and a college athlete herself was shocked that she had not thought of making a women’s bracket with her son. The LeRoy family immediately printed off and made a women’s NCAA March Madness bracket, and, as Lori said, “the rest is history.” 

Alex started watching women’s basketball more and more, and he fell in love with it. He enjoyed the slower, more methodical pace, along with the amazing fundamentals that the women displayed in contrast to the men’s teams. He also began to appreciate the positive atmosphere and sportsmanship in women’s basketball. 

Before long, Alex was looking into upcoming match-ups and creating “keys for the game” for both teams. He has obtained a high basketball IQ, according to Lori. He has begun to shift his thinking and questions about NCAA women’s basketball from a viewer’s perspective to a coach’s. “He will ask stuff like ‘What would you do, as a coach, if there were 10 seconds left in the game, your team was down by 2, and your star player had fouled out?'” 

Being from Indiana, Alex was quick to discover the Indiana University women’s basketball team. He was a fast fan of the Hoosiers and has stayed a Hoosier fan since. Alex’s favorite player, Mackenzie Holmes, was just a freshman when he began watching, and he recently celebrated her getting drafted by the Seattle Storm as a 26th pick in the 2024 WNBA draft. 

Alex began to interview players for his YouTube channel Scooponthehoops in 2023. His long-form interviews have included Grace Efosa from Providence College, Taylor Soule from the Chicago Sky, and Mackenzie Holmes from the Indiana Hoosiers. 

Alex comes up with all of his questions on his own and fully conducts the interviews himself. So, as a younger boy, he always makes sure to ask his interviewees one question – “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?” He also often asks the NCAA or WNBA players who their role models are and what their favorite animals are. 

For Lori, the most important part of Alex’s basketball journey has been that he has found a passion of his and that she and the rest of their family have been able to do everything they can to help him follow it. The kindness and openness that the players have shown Alex was more than she could have dreamed of, and the fact that they would spend their time, either on their off days or right after a game, speaking to a young boy they had never met, surpasses all expectations that the LeRoy family had for Alex.