Kevin Alter has received a lot of hands-on leadership experience over the past few months.

The senior from Rumson, New Jersey served as a battalion commander during plebe summer and had over 500 plebes under his watch.

He is also the captain of the Navy men's basketball team and he is gearing up for the team's first official practice in early October.

Ever since his plebe year, Alter has been keeping a sort of 'leadership journal.' He will write down things that he liked, or disliked, about other people in leadership roles at the Naval Academy. He'll write about things that worked well for him in his own leadership roles and it helps him to mold his own leadership style.

By the time Alter graduates in May, the journal will likely be completely filled with valuable notes for him to use as he begins his military career as a commissioned officer.

Alter's indoctrination to the Naval Academy began at a very young age, as he grew up hearing stories about the Academy from his grandfather, William Alter, or as he is known by most: the Colonel.

The Colonel is a 1954 graduate of the Naval Academy and was a member of the baseball and track and field teams during his time in Annapolis. Following graduation, he had a distinguished military career of over 20 years of active duty in the Marine Corps and later served in the reserves.

"He is someone I've always looked up to," said Alter. "I always saw him as someone who had great character and I saw that in my father as well."

When the Navy coaching staff asked Alter to come to the Naval Academy for a visit, he thought back to his grandfather's stories.

"One of the big things that came across my mind on my visit was that my grandfather was here," said Alter. "He would laugh and tell me that I would go through such a similar process as he did and that the traditions carry on. I thought it would be really cool to be a part of it. I thought it would be an honor to follow in my grandfather's footsteps."

With his familiarity with the Naval Academy and his aspirations to play Division I basketball, Alter gladly accepted the Navy coaching staff's offer to check out the Academy.

"I came down for a visit and I thought it was perfect," he said. "It fit the character of the person I wanted to be."

Alter committed to the Naval Academy during his senior year at Rumson-Fair Haven High School. As a senior, Alter averaged 16.7 points, 6.9 assists and 3.3 steals. He led the team to an 18-8 record and an appearance in the Shore Conference Tournament Championship game. The Shore Conference includes both private and public high schools in both Monmouth County and Ocean County.

Rumson-Fair Haven had hired a new coach, Chris Champeau, prior to Alter's junior season. Alter was a quiet kid back then, but Champeau challenged him to come out of his shell.

"Coach Champeau is the one that made me find the love of the game and made me start being the leader I needed to be," said Alter. "He'd make me lead a practice or do something else. That really helped me become so much more prepared to come to the Naval Academy in terms of how communication and attitude go."

Champeau's philosophy on attitude is something that had a lasting impact on Alter.

"He would always talk about attitude," Alter said. "Every time we would bring it in, he would say, 'Attitude on three.' He would emphasis how important a positive attitude was. He had a big effect on how I portray myself on the court."

Alter would use that positive attitude as he arrived in Annapolis and went through plebe summer. Basketball practices eventually began and before long Alter was making history on the hardwood.

Head coach Ed DeChellis called upon Alter to start the 2011-12 season opener at Longwood. Alter became just the third freshman in school history to start a season opener at the point guard position.

Alter saw action in 16 games as a freshman, but it wasn't until his sophomore season that he started to have some breakout performances.

On the road in early January, Navy had trailed by as many as 26 points to Norfolk State, an NCAA Tournament team from the previous season. With Navy down 22 points with 10 minutes remaining, DeChellis inserted Alter into the contest.

Alter nearly pulled Navy all the way back, scoring a career-high 18 points by drilling six 3-pointers while also dishing out three assists. Alter led a Navy comeback that cut the deficit to just five points with eight seconds left before Navy fell by six, 74-68.

"Whatever I can do to get on the court or whatever I can do to get my guys going is what I'll do," said Alter. "For that game, it was to just come in and let it fly. Once I started hitting a couple, they kept running plays for me and I just kept shooting."

Following the Norfolk State game, Alter began to see more minutes as he moved up in the playing rotation. He played a key role in Navy's 59-50 win at Army. Alter scored 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting on 3-pointers, drew two charges and experienced the joy of beating Army.

"That game was surreal," remembered Alter. "The best part was just smiling and having fun out there. That's what I remember when I look back. I was hitting a couple jumpers and laughing and seeing others guys smiling. We were playing hard and having fun."

Now Alter is leading the men's basketball squad as its team captain for the 2014-15 season and Navy is poised to climb the Patriot League standings.

"I am excited about how everyone is buying in to what we're doing," said Alter. "We've been around Coach DeChellis for awhile now and we know what he expects and we expect that same level."

DeChellis and Alter have a great relationship and DeChellis appreciates what Alter brings to the program.

"I think Kevin is the epitome of what the Academy stands for and of what a student-athlete is," said DeChellis. "He embraces all of the characteristics we want in a Navy basketball player. He's hard-working, he's diligent and he listens. He's a kid that will do everything you ask him to do. He leads by example and he's always the first one in and the last one to leave. His teammates recognize all that and that's why he was voted captain."

"He's the best teammate you could ask for," echoed senior guard Brandon Venturini. "He's always putting everyone else above himself. He's just an overall great guy. He would do anything for any one of us."

Alter is also the one who takes the lead in getting the team engaged in community service. Last spring, Alter organized a group of his teammates to volunteer at a youth homelessness shelter in Washington, D.C.

When the Army men's and women's basketball teams challenged Navy basketball to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Alter organized both the men's and women's teams to accept Army's challenge with a very cold ice water bath of their own.

Alter also runs an annual charity stickball tournament with his brother in their hometown. The Alter brothers recently held the eighth edition of the 14-team tournament in the backyards and streets of Rumson. Proceeds from the stickball tournament are donated to Homes for Our Troops, which builds specifically adapted homes for veterans who have returned home with life-altering injuries.

Alter has been a role model when it comes to community service and the well-rounded Midshipman has also served at the top of the military command at the Naval Academy.

During the 2014 plebe summer, Alter served as the Starboard Battalion Commander, which carries the rank of Midshipman Lieutenant Commander.

"That was one of the best experiences that I've had since coming here," Alter said. "It was an awesome opportunity to get that hands-on leadership that you wouldn't have anywhere else."

Among his many duties, one main job was making sure all the plebe detailers in his battalion, all the way down to the squad leaders, were on the same page and were training the plebes in the appropriate way. When a new plebe summer policy would come down from the administration, Alter would try to make it his own, instead of just being a messenger.

"I would just take ownership of it and then pass it down," Alter said. "So it sounds like it's coming from me, even though it's coming from higher up. Then make those below you want to do it, take their own ownership of it and then be creative with it."

The lessons Alter learned from plebe summer have been recorded in his journal. The Naval Academy encourages all incoming plebes to keep a leadership journal and Alter has stayed committed to it over the past four years.

"I still use it and I think its effective," said Alter. "There are tons of experiences and examples in there. You just see stuff you want to jot down. There's a point of reflection to it as well."

As Alter has molded his own leadership philosophy, two characteristics are very important to him: hard work and a positive attitude.

"There will always be bumps in the road or adversity," Alter said. "But I just want to have a positive attitude, regardless of what the situation is."

Alter's teammate Venturini has spent a lot of time with him over the past four years and has seen his work ethic first-hand.

"He's always working hard, no matter what," said Venturini. "Whenever he is on the court, he gives it his all. He never wants to lose and his heart and toughness show. He dives on the floor after balls and he boxes out the biggest guys. He's also so energetic and so motivating. It's important to have someone like that."

Alter always tries to be the first one on the court before practice and the last one off after its over. It's not rare to see him come back on the court at Alumni Hall after a game to get some more shots up.

"I just love the game," Alter said. "I'll take any chance I have to get around it and play."

Alter works hard on the court and that same work ethic has served him well in the classroom.

Alter is a two-time recipient of Navy's Kevin Sinnett Academic Achievement Award, which is given to the player who demonstrates work ethic, commitment and pride in the classroom and in his efforts to represent the team in the academic arena.

He is majoring in economics and he has a 3.45 grade-point average.

Alter excels in his economics classes, but sometimes has to put extra time into some of the challenging mandatory classes at the Academy.

"I might not be the smartest guy in those kind of classes but I really just try to work hard and meet with my teachers," said Alter. "If I don't get it, I will just continually practice. Same thing I do on the court. I just apply it to the academic field. And like I tell the guys on the team, if you're a hard worker on the court, that should transition to how you portray yourselves academically."

With advice like that, it may soon be his younger teammates who will be filling up their own leadership journals with examples from Alter.