CHICAGO — In its 26th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company announced William Hidalgo of Cabot High School as its 2010-11 Gatorade Arkansas Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Hidalgo is the second Gatorade Arkansas Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from Cabot 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 Hidalgo as Arkansas’ 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, Hidalgo joins an elite alumni association of past state award-winners in 12 sports, including Alexi Lalas (1987-88, Cranbrook HS, Mich.), Derek Jeter (1991-92, Kalamazoo HS, Mich.), Candace Parker (2001-02, Naperville Central HS, Ill.), Tony Meola (1986-87, Kearney HS, N.J.) and Mark Sanchez (2004-05, Mission Viejo HS, Calif.).
The 5-foot-7, 140-pound senior midfielder and forward has led the Panthers to a 9-7-1 record entering this week’s regular-season action. At the time of his selection, Hidalgo had scored six goals and passed for eight assists. The captain of the U.S. Youth Soccer Region III Olympic Development Program team on a trip to Argentina in April, Hidalgo was also a 2010 Class 7A All-State selection.
Hidalgo has maintained a 3.91 GPA in the classroom. A member of his school’s Spanish Club and Broadcasting Club, he has volunteered locally as a youth soccer instructor and coach.
“The biggest thing is William has got a really great attitude, and he’s a really hard worker,” said Nick Harbert, head coach of rival Little Rock Central High. “He’s one of those players who has a lot of the tools but still wants to put in the hard work, the dirty work.”
Hidalgo has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer on scholarship at St. Louis 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 ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, 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.
Hidalgo joins recent Gatorade Arkansas Boys Soccer Players of the Year John Lung’aho (2009-10, Parkview Arts/Science Magnet), Taylor Hart (2008-09, Conway), and Stephen Maxwell (2007-08, Conway) among the state’s list of former award winners.
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