Gatorade Player of The Year

Congratulations to one of our outstanding Athletes named
Gatorade player of the year JENI ERICKSON

Thought it was changed to the Stephanie devita award. Good job.

Excellent choice! Congratulations!

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Congratulations to one of our outstanding Athletes named
Gatorade player of the year JENI ERICKSON

Well done and well deserved. Boy and Girl both from JL Mann and both going to Clemson. Awesome talent!!

Mann soccer star Jeni Erickson earns Gatorade award

With sharp skills and a selfless demeanor, Mann senior soccer star Jeni Erickson has earned another high honor.

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Congratulations to one of our outstanding Athletes named
Gatorade player of the year JENI ERICKSON

Well done and well deserved. Boy and Girl both from JL Mann and both going to Clemson. Awesome talent!!

Are they going to Clemson to be players or to be students???

Most of our best players didn't want the college athlete experience and just wanted to be students and have fun.

A few of them did a college camp a couple of years back and learned how much work was involved and decided it wasn't for them. A couple of them are going to Clemson, but just as students. Might play for fun if they even do that.

Our top boys players, and top in region, said he might try out for the team, but he is not even sure about that. A lot of commitment to play at the college level and its certainly isn't for everyone.

Both are recruited players.

Have to state the obvious, many of the Gatorade Players of the Year play for CESA.
Without taking anything away from these wonderful players, I would like to ask why players from Wando are not listed? They have won several state championships during the years posted. There are many other clubs in SC that produce tremendously skilled players. There are female soccer players who play club in NC and GA that live in SC and play high school soccer in SC and who do quite a bit of community service and post excellent stats. I would like to challenge those who nominate these players, to consider ones who play for other clubs, too. This is supposed to be a high school award...
Just repeating my comments from last year.

6th year in a row by a Greenville player.

Looks to have been awarded 17 times:
10 times by Greenville area players
3 times by Columbia players
3 by Charleston players
1 Hilton Head

Like every other state wide award it seems to be more about who is voting for the awards than who is deserving.

BTW I am sure these are all wonderful players just as I am sure there are other wonderful players being overlooked because of where they live or in this case, don't live.

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6th year in a row by a Greenville player.

Looks to have been awarded 17 times:
10 times by Greenville area players
3 times by Columbia players
3 by Charleston players
1 Hilton Head

Like every other state wide award it seems to be more about who is voting for the awards than who is deserving.

BTW I am sure these are all wonderful players just as I am sure there are other wonderful players being overlooked because of where they live or in this case, don't live.

Why do you try to make her feel bad for getting the award by stating "BTW I am sure these are all wonderful players just as I am sure there are other wonderful players being overlooked because of where they live or in this case, don't live." She earned it. Who would you have picked? One of your girls that is not playing in college? You also have to play club in the state where the award is given and where you play high school. You wonder why so many girls are traveling to play at Cesa or making the drive to NC or GA. They want to be seen by college coaches. You stated earlier that Fort Mill girls didn't want to commit the time it would take to play in college. All because they went to a camp and it was demanding.. Don't say anything else about the Gatorade Player. From what I researched, she was the most deserving. She didn't give the award to herself. Clemson recruited her to play. Maybe you should call the Clemson Coaches and ask them.

As usual you totally miss the point.

She may in fact be the best player in the state.

But isn't it odd that the best player in the state has come from one area 10 of the last 17 years??

One third of the state's population, but half of its best soccer players?? Nah... not buying it.

Since the award was started in 1998 Wando and Hilton Head have won 12 state championships and have had two players named Gatorade player of the year.

Oh and right from CESA web site:
CESA was formed in 2004 and our previous Gatorade Player of the Year recipients include Corey Lugger (2004), Emmett Lunceford (2010), Kimmy Gillespie ( 2004 ), Blakely Mattern ( 2006 ), Kira Campbell ( 2007, 2008 ), Sarah Schaidle ( 2009 ), Stephanie DeVita ( 2010, 2011, 2012 ) and Chelsea Drennan ( 2013 ).

So in 11 years they have won the award 10 times... and even worse it has gone to a CESA player 9 straight times... only ONE none CESA player has won its since CESA was formed...

Seriously? You really want me to believe that 10 out of the last 11 years the best player in the state played for CESA?

Oh... Asheston Robinson... 31 goals, 20 assists... both more than Jeni...

I wonder if Asheston plays for CESA, if so I am sure she'll win it next year.

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Oh... Asheston Robinson... 31 goals, 20 assists... both more than Jeni...

I wonder if Asheston plays for CESA, if so I am sure she'll win it next year.

One simply needs to look at the nominating criteria for the award. You can basically be nominated by anyone including yourself and then you are chosen by a random group of people based on stats and info the nominator or yourself provided. I would suspect that since both male and female were from the same school that it is possible very few players from SC were nominated. Its not like the Heisman or anything it is basically who can self promote the best

Maybe Harry can explain it all.

I'm sure uwishucouldplay can enlighten us.

Blakley Mattern, Stephanie DeVita, Chelsea Drennan. . . Just take a look at what they have done in college. Are you really going to say they got GAPOTY because of the club they played for?

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Blakley Mattern, Stephanie DeVita, Chelsea Drennan. . . Just take a look at what they have done in college. Are you really going to say they got GAPOTY because of the club they played for?

Thank You

Certainly every year there are other young ladies deserving of the award and maybe you could make an argument for them not receiving the award. However, to believe the past award winners received the award because they played for CESA and not because of what they accomplished on the high school and club fields is laughable.

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Blakley Mattern, Stephanie DeVita, Chelsea Drennan. . . Just take a look at what they have done in college. Are you really going to say they got GAPOTY because of the club they played for?

Thank You

Certainly every year there are other young ladies deserving of the award and maybe you could make an argument for them not receiving the award. However, to believe the past award winners received the award because they played for CESA and not because of what they accomplished on the high school and club fields is laughable.

Please... 9 straight CESA players in a row??

So there has not been ONE deserving non-CESA player in a decade?? Not one??

Wando, Hilton Head, Academic Magnet and Bishop England have 21 state championships since CESA was formed and not ONE player of the year, not one.

You really expect me to believe that only once in the last 11 years has the best player in the state not played for CESA?? Seriously??

Nothing against those players named, I am sure they are great soccer players. Just as I am sure that there are great soccer players who were not named player of the year because they played some place besides CESA.

Give out 3 Gatorade awards. One from each part of the state.
There you go. Everybody happy.

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Give out 3 Gatorade awards. One from each part of the state.
There you go. Everybody happy.

ya I usually ignore the threads about these dumb awards & lists by overinvolved adults trying to quantify the high school season. as some have stated, soccer may be the ultimate team sport & trying to identify the allstar quarterback from three different regions is really dumb & meaningless for all the inherent subjectivity in the process. there are no allstar qb's in soccer & all involved should know better. but I get it, we must have lists & awards to argue about on forums like this.
the three region awards as suggested above would make them less subjective, stupid & meaningless.

I don't think Gatorade will change the way they select teams from the entire country for little ol' SC.

For the players and parents the awards are nice.

But the sad reality is that most player awards are more about who votes for them than anything else.

Four Irmo boys on the All State team?? 9 straight CESA players named player of the year? That is more about who picked the award than who is most deserving.

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For the players and parents the awards are nice.

But the sad reality is that most player awards are more about who votes for them than anything else.

Four Irmo boys on the All State team?? 9 straight CESA players named player of the year? That is more about who picked the award than who is most deserving.

Pjay,
I just have to ask. Is there anything about youth soccer that you don't complain about? I have no idea who chose The Gatorade Player of the Year and neither do you. Are you aware that more than soccer stats goes into the selection? The nomination application includes GPA, school activities and leadership and community involvement, etc. Who knows, the next nine could come from outside Cesa. At any rate, you can't simply look at goals and assists and come up with GPOTY.

Does everything have to be a controversy, or can we just congratulate these players and move on without insinuating that there is some reason other than the player, student and person they are?

interwebs is gonna go out of bidness with thinking like that.

I think we can congratulate the players and the people who won the state championships too.

But we should also acknowledge that the system is flawed and could use some improvement. In this case do you really think that the best player in the state came from CESA 9 straight times??

Call me a pessimist but I find it hard to believe that one soccer club has produced the top player 9 years in a row and 10 of the last 11. Not one player from the Columbia, Charleston or Charlotte area soccer clubs has been worthy in 9 years? Not one?

All the state championships being piled up by lower state teams and yet not one player of the year award in 9 years?? It defies logic that EVERY top player in the state would play for this one club.

Seems that the number 1 requirement for being Gatorade player of the year at this point is playing for CESA.