CHICAGO (May 13, 2014) — In its 29th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Adam Sheikali of McIntosh High School as its 2013-14 Gatorade Georgia Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Sheikali is the second Gatorade Georgia Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from McIntosh High School.
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 Sheikali as Georgia’s best high school boys soccer player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced in May, Sheikali joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy, N.Y.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook HS, Mich.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02, East Brunswick HS, N.J.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 6-foot-1, 170-pound senior midfielder has led the Chiefs to a 20-0 record and a berth in the Class AAAAA state tournament semifinals against Greenbrier High, scheduled for May 13. Sheikali scored 18 goals and passed for 15 assists through 20 games. A two-time Class AAAAA First Team All-State selection, he is the 2014 Region 4 Player of the Year and has helped McIntosh to 43 consecutive victories in its pursuit of a second straight state title.
Sheikali has maintained an A average in the classroom. A member of the McIntosh High Spanish National Honor Society, he has volunteered locally as a youth soccer coach and as part of fundraising campaigns to benefit cancer and muscular dystrophy research.
“Adam is their playmaker and impossible to stop with just one player,” said Mike Hanie, head coach of Starr’s Mill High. “He can take players on one-on-one and beat them on the dribble, and he also plays that killer ball to his teammates.”
Sheikali has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on an athletic scholarship at Boston University 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 high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, 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.
Sheikali joins recent Gatorade Georgia Boys Soccer Players of the Year Salomon Lorenzano (2012-13, McIntosh High School), Holden Fender (2011-12, Walton High School), John "Snoopy" Davidson (2010 – 11, Rome High School), Jordan McCrary (2009-10, Lassiter), Chris Thomas (2008–09 Greater Atlanta Christian School), Connor Barbaree (2007-08, Walton), and Jimmy Maurer (2006-2007, St. Pius X Catholic) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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