This feature appeared in the Greensboro News & Record People and Places section on Sunday August 24 2003

Name: Patrick Flannery
Age: 12
Hometown: Greensboro
School: St. Pius X
Grade: Seventh
Sports: Swimming, track and basketball
Teams: Swimming, STAR Aquatics; track, St. Pius X; basketball, Spears YMCA
Events: 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly; track, 100- and 220-meters
Family: Brother, Tommy; sister, Bonnie; parents, Cathy and Michael

Recent accomplishments on the field: Got the Rebel Award for the swimming summer league, ranked 20th in the state for the 50-meter freestyle.

Recent accomplishments off the field: A/B honor roll for sixth grade

Favorite coach: "Brad Herndon, my coach at Star. He's really helped me improve. A lot of my other coaches have helped me, but I never really did great until Brad started coaching me."

Favorite class: Social studies

Hardest class: Math

Favorite teacher: "Mrs. Graves, my social studies teacher. She's really nice and she's a social studies teacher, and I really like social studies."

Favorite movie: "Head of State"

Favorite TV show: "The Simpsons"

Favorite restaurant: Sapporo

Favorite band: A.F.I.

Favorite athlete: "Probably Michael Phelps or Ian Thorpe. Michael Phelps is really young, and he's gotten gold medals and set a lot of records, and Ian Thorpe is just an incredible swimmer. And my dad, just because he's helped me with swimming through all the years of my life, and he's a really great person."

Favorite sports team: Yankees

What you do in your spare time: "I like to hang out with friends and watch TV."

Household pets: A cat, Bugsy, and a dog, Ralph.

If you could have one super-power, it would be: "I would be invisible so I could skip class."

Favorite sports experience: "Just going to the state championships was really, really important. And getting 20th in the state was something I didn't expect to do because I was ranked 29th. So I came in and dropped nine places."

Career ambition: "I know I want to swim in college, if I improve enough to do that. If not, I think it would be kind of fun to be a defense attorney because I like arguing."

To nominate an athlete, call 412-5929 or send e-mail to slgovus@news-record.com. The athlete must be in eighth grade or below. Include your name, phone number, athlete's name, sport and school.