Gatorade Player of the Year Mary Frances Symmes prepares for NC State
There is currently not a whole lot of action when it comes to our local sports right now, but it is also the time where some of our athletes are given some much deserved recognition.
Get to know this year’s Gatorade Player of the year, Gulfport’s very own, Mary Frances Symmes.
Earlier this summer, Gulfport soccer alum Mary Frances Symmes received a notification early in the morning that put a little extra pep in her step.
“It was like 8:00 in the morning,” said Symmes. “I was awake because we were on the way back from my orientation, so I was in the car and my mom was talking about it like right before and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I got it!'”
The alert was an email that stated Symmes was just named the 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Mississippi.
Although Symmes and the Lady Admirals fell short in the state championship this year, she hopes this award shows them that their hard work did not go unnoticed.
“With my team, we lost in the state championship, so I just felt like we ended our season not like incomplete, but we felt like our hard work didn’t pay off, so getting that award made me feel and I hope it made my teammates feel like we did something that our hard work paid off for,” said Symmes.
The former WXXV Student-Athlete of the week also hopes this honor inspires others to keep pursuing their dreams.
“It really inspires me because this is just a huge achievement to have and another step to my process and my long journey ahead of me, so I hope it inspires other people to keep working hard and to just trust the process and to never give up,” said Symmes.
For her senior season, Symmes was challenged with a new role on the pitch. Instead of crumbling under that pressure, Symmes truly flourished, scoring 22 of her 32 career goals.
Symmes said, “I’ve always struggled with my attacking game, so being put up there really made me challenge myself, so I feel like that’s a good thing to have in my tool box whenever I go to college.”
Symmes will be taking her toolbox to the power five school of her dreams, NC state.
She recognizes that success at the Divison I level will not come easy, and she is currently putting in the work to ensure she is an asset to her new program.
“Right now I’m out here doing individual training and fitness and weight training, so just doing all of that before I get up there to make sure I’m fit and ready to go,” said Symmes.
Symmes will head to North Carolina on July 27th to begin writing the next chapter of her soccer career.
