Apr. 3, 2017 -- North Central College prides itself on developing well-rounded student athletes who thrive in athletics, academics and in other extra-curricular activities. However, there is one student-athlete who may have a more eclectic mix of interests than the rest. His name is Adam Winters, a junior on the men's tennis team, also known as "Mr. NCC" or "that guy on the tennis team who plays the ukulele." 

Winters, a double major in International Business and Spanish, sees himself getting into the international business field, or the business field in general, post-graduation. Given his interest in such topics, it should come as no shock that while the men's tennis team was in South Carolina over spring break, Winters was in New York City, New York, for a model United Nations (UN) conference. 

"Model UN was a class I took in winter term" explained Winters. "For ten weeks we were assigned a country—mine was Zimbabwe—and we researched how to represent them and what their interests are on the world stage.  It was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work too. We'd get up at 7:00 a.m., then get back at around 11:00 p.m., and of course we wanted to explore New York City in the little free time we had. A lot of sleep was lost, but it was well worth it." 

As for his Spanish-speaking ability, Winters views it as a work in progress. He was able to hone this skill when he recently spent four months studying abroad in Spain and is enthusiastic about improving. Winters has thrived academically, being named to the Academic All College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) team each year he has been a Cardinal.  

Even though he is extremely committed to his academics, he also likes to have fun, and his engaging personality resulted in him being given the title of "Mr. NCC" in the winter term of the 2015-16 academic year. Initially he was hesitant to throw his hat in the ring, but eventually did along with one of his best friends, Blake Huddleston. In order to win, contestants were required to participate in activities such as a group dance, dressing up in formal clothes, and lip-synching, to which Winters lip-synched the song Roses by Outkast. 

Going forward, he would like to judge the event should it be held again. 

While there was no talent show aspect of the contest, Winters would have likely won by an even bigger margin if there was. He played the piano for many years, was in the marching band throughout high school and is still highly proficient on a snare drum. On top of this, he also plays the ukulele and is learning how to play the guitar. 

During his freshman year at North Central, he observed someone else playing the ukulele and was so intrigued, he decided to purchase teach himself how to play. 

"All you do is look up YouTube videos and teach yourself; you look where they put their fingers and do the same" he said. "The Ukulele is fun, and it's portable so you can take it anywhere you want, which is what I really like about it. Once I get the hang of the guitar, I think I'm going to like it even better." 

Winters is capable of playing many songs, including "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz and "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers. 

Given that he has become known for so many other endeavors, it can be easy to forget that Winters is an athlete. Winters originally considered being a two-sport athlete at North Central, as he wanted to continue his soccer career at the college level, however he simply did not have the time to commit to both sports. While he was unable to do that, he is still active in intramurals, participating in basketball and spike ball. 

Winters took a particular interest in spike ball, a game consisting of two teams of two players who line up across from each other with the net in the middle. To score points, you must hit the ball off the net so that the opposing team cannot return it. 

"I love spike ball" said Winters with enthusiasm. "I played it over spring break one year and it was awesome, so I bought my own set. One of my teammates, Tyler Bussell, also has his own set. I got into it then and actually played in a tournament last summer with Alex Kohlmeier in Chicago. There was over 200 teams, and we were out at the beach playing all day. We made it to the top 64 out of 200, and lost to the 14th-ranked team." 

Winters sees many parallels between spike ball and tennis, as they both require a highly-competent level of hand-eye coordination and excellent lateral movement.  

"What's also cool is that it's 360 degrees, so you can jump over the net" noted Winters "I'm more of the type to set the ball, then dive and make some kick saves every now and then. Kohlmeier has a huge reach, so he leans over and put shots away. We're a good team and complement one another." 

During his time studying abroad, Winters emailed the company who produce the spike ball equipment, asking if could market the game while he was over there. They were more than happy to oblige, sending him a free set. Winters fondly recalls almost an entire day he spent playing at a beach in Portugal, much to the amusement of the locals. 

When he's not playing tennis, the guitar, the ukulele, learning to speak Spanish, playing spike ball or studying, Winters is a big fan of anime. 

During his sophomore year of high school, a friend suggested that he watch an anime program called Naruto, and Winters has not looked back since. 

"Not a lot of people know much about anime," said Winters. "A lot of the story lines of the shows I watch feature a lot of action. My favorite show is 'One Piece,' and you don't even want to know how many episodes are out for that. It's still ongoing and the storyline is very intricate. They reference real world problems in a sense with a lot of action at the same time." 

Given his broad spectrum of interests, Winters is another example of a North Central student-athlete destined to accomplish big things in the future. 

The men's tennis team (6-3) are in action next when they take on CCIW rival Elmhurst College on April 4 at 3:30 p.m., at the Brune Tennis Courts.