CHICAGO (June 16, 2022) — In its 37th year of honoring the nation’s best High School athletes, Gatorade today announced Parker Sloan of Powhatan High School is the 2021-22 Gatorade Virginia Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Sloan is the first Gatorade Virginia Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Powhatan 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 Sloan as Virginia’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 June, Sloan joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook High School, Mich.), Steve Cherundolo (1996-97, Mt. Carmel High School, Calif.), Abby Wambach (1997-98, Our Lady of Mercy School of Young Women, N.Y.), Heather O’Reilly (2001-02 & 2002-03, East Brunswick High School, N.J.), Matt Besler (2004-05, Blue Valley West High School, Kans.), Jack Harrison (2013-14, Berkshire High School, Mass.) and Mallory Pugh (2014-15, Mountain Vista High School, Colo.).

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior midfielder and forward scored 35 goals and passed for 17 assists this past season, leading the Indians (17-4-1) to the Class 4 State Tournament quarterfinals. The 2022 Region 4B Player of the Year, Sloan was a 2021 United Soccer Coaches Youth All-American selection for his contributions to his club soccer team, FC Richmond. He concluded his prep soccer career with 71 goals and 42 assists.

Sloan has volunteered locally at Feeding Powhatan, a food distribution center for people in need, and he has donated his time as a youth soccer and basketball coach.

“Parker is the complete package as a pure forward,” said Mike Anderson, Head Coach of Cosby High School. “He is both powerful and technical. His speed and quickness are at the ACC (collegiate) level easily, and he uses all these assets in a very intelligent manner.”

In the classroom, Sloan has maintained a weighted 4.54 GPA. He has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Virginia 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.

This selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Sloan joins recent Gatorade Virginia Boys Soccer Players of the Year Malcolm Brickhouse (2020-21, Charlottesville High School), Michael Meese (2019-20, Jamestown High School), Clay Obara (2018-19, Frank W. Cox High School), and Bryan Silver (2017-18, Oakton High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

Gatorade has a long-standing history of serving athlete communities and understands how sports instill valuable lifelong skills on and off the field. Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Sloan has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of their choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports.

Sloan is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

*** To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade. ***