Fort Myers’ Thompson is multifaceted on and off the court
FORT MYERS, Fla. (BVM) — In the late 1980s, a woman by the name of Holly Fagan was the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year for track and field and then had a hall of fame career at Florida State. Around the same time, a man by the name of Maxwell Thompson was a track and field athlete at the University of North Carolina. Now, in 2021, the two are married and their daughter Paris Thompson is following in their athletic footsteps.
Except Thompson of Fort Myers High School is making her mark in a different sports realm, as she was recently named the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year for volleyball.
From the age of 4, the now-volleyball star was actually a tennis player. She started at a young age and competed until she was roughly 12 years old, when she fell in love with volleyball. Tagging along to camps with her friends, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter noticed she had a talent for the game. After trying out for a club team, a long and still blossoming career took off.
“When I started, I was a middle hitter,” Thompson said. “My passing wasn’t great, serving wasn’t great, I could only block and hit. Then I transitioned to be an outside hitter in my 15th year. I focused more on passing, serving, digging, hitting and blocking all at once. I don’t focus on one thing, I focus on being good at everything.”
Her ability to affect the game in every aspect is one of the reasons why Thompson garnered so much attention from school’s across the nation. In her senior campaign, the do-it-all hitter recorded 413 kills, 228 digs, 42 service aces and 24 blocks. Her efforts led the Green Wave to the Class 6A semifinals before her high school career came to a close, but her next stage has already begun.
The lucky school to get her college commitment was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where she received early enrollment and is already taking her first semester of classes. The university won her over with a unique slogan.
“They have a saying, it’s ‘4 for 40.’ Come here for four years and you’re set up for the rest of your life whether it’s the connections you make or people you meet,” Thompson said. “My roommate is from another country and she’s a non-athlete. I’ve learned a little Spanish and more about where she’s from and she’s learned more about where I’m from. It’s very diverse in a sense that I’m going to leave here being better than I came.”
Leaving better than she came would speak volumes, as Thompson arrives at Notre Dame as an upstanding citizen already. During her senior year of high school, Thompson assisted with her school’s first-ever Unified Basketball team, working with students from Fort Myers’ Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program.
This is a program that helps children with disabilities progress in school and prepare for life afterwards. Thompson’s job was to play basketball with the kids who wanted to be members of the team, helping them score baskets and enjoy sports to the fullest.
“With the Gatorade Player of the Year I get to donate to a foundation so I’m actually going to donate back to our school’s ESE program,” Thompson said. “The mentality I got from that is that even if everything isn’t perfect, you can still find a reason to be happy. It’s really shed a light on my life that there are people who have it harder so there’s nothing for me to complain about.”
Having the ability to donate money to an important cause because of her athletic talent is nothing she ever saw coming, despite coming from some impressive athletic genes. But she’s embracing it full-heartedly because she used to look up to girls who are now where she is.
“When I was younger I’d look up to the girls who got these awards like ‘wow, that is so cool; they are the best there is,’” Thompson said. “Now when I go back home there are girls who look up to me, at club tournaments young girls come up to me. I was once that girl looking up to these players. It’s about inspiring these younger players to know they can do it because I was right where they sat.”
