body-container-line-1
18.06.2017 Sports News

Right To Dream Academy graduate Umar Farouk wins 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year

By ghanasoccernet.com
Right To Dream Academy graduate Umar Farouk wins 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year
18.06.2017 LISTEN

Right To Dream Academy graduate Umar Farouk Osman has emerged as the 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year, a college award in the United States.

Farouk becomes the 32nd player to have been honoured in the nation's best high school athletes award.

The Gatorade Company, last week announced The Hotchkiss School student as its 2016-17 Gatorade Connecticut Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

Osman is the second Gatorade Connecticut Boys Soccer Player of the Year to be chosen from The Hotchkiss 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 Osman as Connecticut'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, Osman joins an elite alumni association of past state soccer award-winners, including Alexi Lalas, former US national team player.

The 5-foot-9, 150-pound midfielder scored 19 goals and passed for nine assists this past season, lifting the Bearcats to a 6-9-2 record.

Osman who was also the 2016 Connecticut Soccer Coaches Association's Player of the Year, Osman had a direct hand in 28 of Hotchkiss' 30 goals on the season.

He participated in the High School All-American Game in North Carolina in December and concluded his prep soccer career with 63 goals and 45 assists.

A dorm proctor at Hotchkiss, Osman has volunteered locally as part of a fundraising campaign to provide school uniforms, backpacks and books to children in his native Ghana. 'Osman is the full package—size, raw power, technical and dynamic on the ball,' said Tony Mohammed, head coach of the Berkshire School.

'I also appreciate that he plays with a lot of pride, plays both sides of the ball and isn't afraid to put a tackle in.'

Osman has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to play soccer on scholarship at the University of Michigan beginning this fall.

body-container-line