For the 2019-2020 year, two Mt. Hebron students won Howard County Player of the Year in their respective sports. Senior Sam Giles won for volleyball and senior Esha Shah won for field hockey.

Giles won Howard County player of the year as well as helping lead her team to a county championship and racking up her 1000th career set this season. The team went 11-1 in the county and 14-2 overall in a season that saw them reach the regional championship, where they lost to Westminster. 

Giles is a three year varsity player and began playing rec volleyball in the third grade then moved up her level of play and started playing club in sixth grade. Giles has always tried to make herself a better player and not focus on any other players or professionals too hard. 

“I’ve always worked to improve to be the best version of myself. I never really looked up to anyone else,” Giles said.

She was the player of the year, an accomplishment any player would be honored to earn in their county.

“At the end of November about two weeks before it was officially announced, my coach called me when I was at work to tell me I had won and I was so surprised I didn’t really react at all, it took awhile for it to sink in,” Giles commented.

This year Sam was not the only one to hold the Player of the Year honor. Esha Shah, a senior captain of the field hockey team was also named player of the year for her sport. 

Shah has been a four year varsity player for Mt. Hebron’s field hockey team. Shah is also a club player and participates in tournaments in the off-season. Shah even received Offensive Player of the Year for the state of Maryland and has committed to the University of Virginia to continue her field hockey career. 

“My coach called me to let me know about all the post season awards and she mentioned that I also got player of the year and I was just really happy that I was able to represent hebron in a sport we usually don’t get recognized in,” Shah said. 

Even without playing in every game this season Esha still finished with 14 goals and 8 assists for a total of 49 goals in her four years of high school field hockey. 

These two players had a huge impact on their school and community. Both teams ended their regular season as county champions.