Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Anna Hogewood (13) balanced playing soccer along with many other accolades and experiences throughout her high school career.
Anna Hogewood’s resume is already a mile long.
Not literally, it just feels that way when she lists all of her awards and honors, leadership experience, athletic achievement, extracurricular activities, volunteer activities, and work experience.
Once typed onto a page, it takes up nearly all the white space on a piece of paper. Front and back.
“It’s like she never slept,” said Brigid Littleton, her soccer coach at Vestavia Hills High School.
Hogewood — a 2017 graduate from VHHS — did more than the typical student, even with less time to spare than most. She was a standout on the soccer field as well, and while she only called herself an “average” player, she was good enough to win the Birmingham Metro Player of the Year, as voted on by the coaches.
“Winning Metro Player of the Year was awesome,” Hogewood said. “Coach Littleton knew, and she told my mom, and then when I found out, I was so excited. I had no clue.”
Her role wasn’t to score an abundance of goals but rather, as a center defensive midfielder, to stop any attack from the opposition. Her sheepish grin and soft-spoken personality could fool opponents at times, but certainly not for long.
“You look at her and you don’t think she’s going to be as strong and as intense, but when you see how she plays and the decisions she makes, it’s unreal,” Littleton said.
The Rebels won the state championship her junior year with her as a key contributor.
“It was so much fun, because the team was like a family,” Hogewood said.
They were unable to duplicate the feat in 2017 but still made it back to the final, where a strong McGill-Toolen team took home the Class 7A state title. But Vestavia was able to take down crosstown rival Oak Mountain the day before in the semifinals.
Hogewood said, “We had so much fun. Beating Oak Mountain the day before was so awesome. Losing to McGill, they were really good. On the whole, we had a really good season and there was a lot of growth, and I got to use my leadership skills.”
Those leadership skills have been cultivated quite a bit in the last several years, with Hogewood having a hand in and participating in a number of organizations and events.
She was the president of Youth Leadership Vestavia Hills, which trains local students to become leaders and pillars in the community.
“Public speaking is one thing I was really bad at and I had to get over that,” Hogewood said with a laugh. “I had to speak in front of all different types of panels.”
She was also one of 50 girls nationwide to be an ANNpower Vital Voices fellow in 2016. As part of the fellowship — designed to “train, mentor and inspire” young females — Hogewood spent a week in New York during the summer.
Among other things, she was on the Alabama High School Athletic Association Student Leadership Council and picked up a Thompson Reynolds Scholar Athlete Award, presented to a student-athlete with a GPA exceeding 4.0.
Hogewood is heading to Wake Forest University, where her father went to school. She thought for a long time that she would pursue college soccer, but ultimately determined it was more important to get the best education possible.
“I knew that in order to get there, you would have to be well-rounded,” she said.
Speaking of that long resume, Hogewood said, “These are all things I’m really passionate about. I feel like they’re all connected in some way.
“It’s not just like fishing club and random things to fill my resume.”
She’s someone that Littleton will use as an example for her future players to strive toward.
“I can’t say enough, really,” Littleton said.
