By Rubin E. Grant
Hannah Parant has wanted to receive one award in particular throughout her high school volleyball career.
Earlier this month, the Mountain Brook senior attained it. Parant was selected the 2023 Gatorade Alabama Volleyball Player of the Year.
“My whole high school career I have worked towards this award and have always kept it in mind,” Parant said. “I knew how hard I would have to work in order to receive the highly competitive award, and I am glad that I was able to push myself and prove that hard work pays off.
“I couldn’t have gotten this award without any of my teammates and coaches at both Mountain Brook High School and Alabama Performance.
“I will definitely treasure and remember this award as a special one for the rest of my life.”
Parant, a 6-foot-2 senior setter, led the Spartans to a 46-5 record and the Class 6A state championship during the 2023 season, earning Over The Mountain Journal’s OTM Volleyball Player of the Year honor.
She finished with 1,170 assists, averaging 8.4 per set, a program-record 91 aces and 311 digs. She also had 221 kills and 53 blocks. An American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-American, she concluded her prep career with the most aces (315) and assists (4,408) in team history.
The Gatorade award celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community.
“Hannah Parant is special,” Homewood coach Andie Freedman said. “She elevated the Mountain Brook offense to the highest levels we’ve seen from that program. She was very hard to stop both offensively via setter dumps and with her distribution decisions.”
Parant is the third Gatorade Alabama Volleyball Player of the Year to be chosen from Mountain Brook High School, joining Grace Carr, 2019-2020, and Sara Carr, 2015-2016.
Mountain Brook coach Mattie Gardner was overjoyed that Parant was chosen.
“The Mountain Brook volleyball coaching staff, the players and community are so proud of Hannah for being named Alabama’s Gatorade Player of the Year,” Gardner said. “We see her dedication and hard work each day, so I’m thrilled that she is receiving the honor of this esteemed award.
“Hannah has raised the standard for elite play not only for our program but also for the state. She has had a lasting impact on our team’s success over the last four years, and we all look forward to the impact she will have at the collegiate level.”
Parant is headed to the University of Alabama to play.
Off the court, Parant has volunteered locally by collecting Christmas gifts for underprivileged children. She also has donated her time packing meals for the underprivileged with Stop Hunger Now, and she passes out meals to those in need through her church at Thanksgiving.
Parant has maintained a 3.77 GPA in the classroom.
She joins recent Gatorade state volleyball Player of the Year winners Anna Grace Sparks (2022, McGill-Toolen), Audrey Rothman (2021, Spain Park), Rya McKinnon (2020, Hoover) and Grace Carr (2019, Mountain Brook).
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. It awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
