In any sport, the player of the year stands out as a true necessity to their team’s success.

The value of that person can be seen on the field through their productivity and off the field through their leadership. For Swansea and Blackville-Hilda, Franki Jumper, the 2008 T&D girls’ soccer player of the year, and Darrell White, the 2008 T&D boys’ soccer player of the year, have gone above and beyond to assist their teams in making playoff appearances this past season.

For Jumper, her path to success started nine years ago when she began playing for Swansea head coach Chad Meredith at the recreation league level. Since then, according to Meredith, Jumper has always worked hard and put forth her best effort.

“That’s probably one of her strongest attributes,” Meredith said of his forward’s work ethic. “Consistently, day in and day out in practice, she works really hard and I think that’s why she’s successful.”

Not only has Jumper played at the recreation level, she’s also played for her father, Frankie, who is the head coach of the Lower Lexington Soccer Club and an assistant coach at Swansea.

Although there is a noticeable difference between club soccer and varsity high school soccer for Franki, the transition from one level to another for her was pretty easy. Jumper finished this season with 23 goals and four assists. For any other freshman, that could be seen as remarkable. However, that’s nothing new to Meredith.

“I’m not really surprised at how far she’s come along and what level she’s risen to,” he said. “That’s been the fun part--seeing the fruit of her efforts over the years. She deserves all the credit because she’s worked hard in the offseason to make herself better.”

Jumper partially credits her teammates for being the driving force behind her success on the field. However, she also feels her father has played a large part in molding her to be the player that she is today.

“He pushes me as hard as he can so that I can get better, so that I can learn more,” she said. “That way, when it comes to looking at colleges, I can have people watching me so I can show out for scouts.”

Even with the productivity that Jumper has had this season, she doesn’t necessarily see herself as the leader of her team. However, Meredith thinks that she is a definite asset to her teammates.

“Anytime you have somebody like (Franki) on the field,” he said, “it makes everybody want to raise their level. She’s the type of person that leads by example. Having said that, it makes everybody on the field better.”

Swansea made the playoffs this past season, but their stay was short as they fell to Hilton Head in the first round. Still, the postseason experience is something that Jumper believes she can learn from.

“Hilton Head had a really good team,” she said. “I don’t think we were expecting such talent to go against, but it was a good experience. It helped out a lot.”

Jumper has attended camps at Presbyterian College and College of Charleston. However, she isn’t too concerned about college scouts or life after high school just yet. In fact, she’s looking forward to playing with her teammates and reaching even higher level of success.

“Next season is going to be a lot of fun,” Jumper said. “I really hope we go past the first round of the playoffs. That’s my goal right now.”

While Jumper began playing soccer at a young age, Darrell White started his soccer career merely two years ago. He was on the football, basketball and track teams during his freshman and sophomore years. According to his mother, Beverly, White saw himself playing soccer.

“A couple of years ago,” she said, “he would’ve never tried out for soccer because he didn’t think it would be a fun game. He didn’t think it would be a ‘man’s game.’”

After watching and playing with his younger cousin, Justin, White had a change of heart and found himself on the team with head coach Daniel Holbrook. Everyone who comes out for the team at Blackville-Hilda, according to Holbrook, is generally being introduced to the game of soccer for the very first time. That wasn’t the case with White.

“The first thing I noticed about Darrell is that he could handle the ball,” Holbrook said. “He wasn’t afraid with the ball at his feet. That’s why he started at midfield.”

White was known as a leader on the gridiron for the Hawks at quarterback and defensive back and the same could be said when he put on her soccer jersey.

“Being a quarterback on the football team certainly helped with that,” Holbrook said. “Most of the guys on the team are football players. So, it was easy to see him as a leader anyway. He’s one of the type of kids that leads by example. He’s going to go out and he’s going to do his thing and say ‘Get me the ball. I’m going to score.’ He’s not the ‘rah-rah’ type of guy.”

White later moved from midfield to forward and proved to be a true weapon on offense. This season, White finished with 20 goals and six assists while lifting the Hawks to a first round playoff showdown with Lincoln. After that postseason experience, White believes that B-H will help them in the future.

“We came up short this year,” he said. “We should have gone farther. Now that the school has seen what we can do, there could be more athletes at Blackville-Hilda that may want to try out for soccer.”

What the Hawks accomplished this year was posting a 13-1 record--one of the best seasons, if not the best, in Blackville-Hilda history. Essentially, this season gives the Hawks’ soccer program, according to Holbrook, “a shot in the arm.”

“At Blackville-Hilda,” he said, “nobody ever talks about soccer. It’s football and basketball pretty much (around here). In the spring, the baseball team is up and down. The softball team...they’re up and down a lot. Nobody ever really talks about soccer. Now, it’s to the point where with Darrell and a couple of the other seniors I’ve got and the juniors I have...it’s made a big difference. People are now coming up from the middle school saying ‘I want to play soccer,’ which is different than how it used to be.”

White has received an offer to play for USC-Salkehatchie. However, he has decided to attend South Carolina State. There, he plans to try out for the football team. Although White won’t be playing soccer in the near future, he still has love for the game that he learned from his younger cousin.

“I miss (the game) right now,” White said. “I wish I would’ve played in my freshman and sophomore years. I wish I had one more year in high school to play. That way, I could go to camp with the other players and come back to show what I’ve learned at camp.”

2008 T&D All-Area First Team

Coach of the Year - Daniel Holbrook (Blackville-Hilda)

Franki Jumper (Swansea) - 23 goals, 4 assists

Darrell White (Blackville-Hilda) -20 goals, 6 assists

Patrick McDonnell (Branchville) - 29 goals

Richard Threatt (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) 16 goals, 7 assists

Chris Williams (Orangeburg Prep) - 13 goals

Rhondu Forbes (Bamberg-Ehrhardt) - 10 goals, 8 assists

Shykeethia Gordon (Swansea) - 8 goals, 6 assists

Lauren Holley (Orangeburg Prep) - 8 goals

Haley Meredith (Swansea) - 7 goals, 14 assists

Michael Williamson (Orangeburg Prep) - 200+ saves

Honorable Mention

Quentin Johnson – Blackville-Hilda

Thomas Daniels – Blackville-Hilda

John Hitopoulis – Branchville

Willie Brown – Branchville

Frida Edström – Branchville

Que Verner – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Rodney Lewis – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

LaQuinn Nimmons – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Anthony Verner – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Marcus Toomer – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Benton Wise – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Tario Preacher – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Jacob Halman – Bamberg-Ehrhardt

Marvin Jamison – North

Tremaine McMillan – North

Damere Yon - North

Ashley Caffey – Orangeburg Prep

Lauren Smith – Orangeburg Prep

Allie Huggins – Orangeburg Prep

Nolan Whitman – Orangeburg Prep

Lee Allen – Orangeburg Prep

Brooke McGuire – Swansea

Brittany McKoy – Swansea

Kirstien Taylor – Swansea

Brooke Dull – Swansea

Sarah Scott – Swansea

Shannon Slyman – Swansea

Zach Spigner – Calhoun Academy

Trey Williams – Calhoun Academy

Matt Jones – Calhoun Academy

T&D Sports Writer Emery Glover can be reached by e-mail at eglover@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Check out his blog, Cover 2, at www.TheTandD.com.

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