In its 32nd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, today announced Emi Higgins of Hawaii Preparatory Academy as its 2016-17 Gatorade Hawaii Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Higgins is the first Gatorade Hawaii Girls Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Hawaii Prep.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Higgins as Hawaii’s best high school girls soccer player.
“I’m so blessed to be on such a supportive, loving team with an amazing coach,” Higgins said. “This means so much to me and i’m so happy to be able to bring this honor to my school and the community.”
Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Girls Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in June, Higgins joins an elite alumni association of past state soccer award-winners, including U.S. Women’s Soccer National Team member Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.).
The 5-foot-9 sophomore forward and midfielder led Ka Makani to an 11-2-2 record and the HHSAA Division II state championship this past season.
Higgins scored 19 goals, including seven of HPA’s nine tallies in five postseason games, and passed for seven assists. She scored both goals in the state semifinals and the only goal in HPA’s 1-0 win over Kapaa High in the title game, earning herself the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award.
“Emi was a difference maker on our team this year. Even though she was marked up going into most of our games, Emi found a way to make things happen for our squad — either by scoring a big goal or by drawing attention away from other teammates on the pitch,” said HPA head coach Steve Perry. “ The way our season worked out this year, we needed Emi to be patient and to find just the right moment to create opportunities for the team.”
A Hawaii Prep student ambassador, Higgins is a member of her school’s student council and she has volunteered locally with the Kona Hospital Foundation.
Higgins has maintained a 3.91 GPA in the classroom and represents one of the state’s top academic candidates in meeting the Gatorade award’s broad criteria. She will begin her junior year of high school this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track &field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Emi will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program.
Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and will have the opportunity to enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why their selected organization deserves additional support. 12 spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.