Loyola Blakefield high school star Dan Klink named 2024-2025 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year

Read our exclusive interview with the Loyola Blakefield phenom and University of North Carolina commit

Loyola Blakefield's Dan Klink poses at midfield with the 2024-2025 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award. / Joe Greer

A Surprise Turned Celebration

Dan Klink pulled into Loyola Blakefield on Friday morning ready to celebrate someone else’s career achievement.

He showed up expecting a retirement ceremony for his school’s chaplain. Instead, he walked into one of the biggest surprises and left with one of the highest honors in high school soccer.

“I guess I fell for it,” Klink said with a laugh.

Maybe only part of it. There was a celebration, and it was for someone who is leaving the Towson, Maryland, school behind. But the senior certainly didn’t see what was coming until the moment rocked him.

Joining Elite Company

Gatorade was there, along with his parents, Rick and Aimee Klink, closest family, friends and supporters, to surprise the 2024-2025 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year.

The Gatorade National Player of the Year award is given annually in 12 high school sports and is based on athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character. Klink joined an elite group of past national winners and became one of the few to pair the national honor with back-to-back state awards.

He was still in shock some 30 minutes later.

"Loss for words," Klink said. "I am still having trouble processing it all being thrown at (me). It's an amazing - speechless. Can't ask for more.

“I walked through the back gates and, you know, seeing my dad there at the trophy, and then reading the trophy and seeing those guys start cheering," he added. "Processing it all with people clapping (was) an amazing feeling and it’s so surreal.”

Headed to the University of North Carolina, Klink made a lot of memories at Loyola Blakefield. Friday’s memory was the pinnacle.

A Historic High School Career

The award capped another standout season for Klink, who has history with Gatorade. He was recently named the Gatorade Maryland Boys Soccer Player of the Year for the second straight year. He led the Dons to a 17-2-2 record and back-to-back Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference championships. Klink finished the season with 17 goals and eight assists.

Klink was first honored by Gatorade when he won the 2023-2024 Gatorade Maryland Boys Soccer Player of the Year following his junior season, when he led the Dons to a 14-0-4 mark and another MIAA A Conference championship, scoring a pair of goals in a 3-1 win over John Carroll.

Dan Klink balances a soccer ball while holding the 2024-2025 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year trophy. / Joe Greer

Built for Greatness

“Dan has good size, a good work rate, is good with his feet and good in the air,” Mount St. Joseph head coach Mike St. Martin said in a release when Klink won this season’s Gatorade Maryland Boys Soccer Player of the Year honor. “He’s the total package.”

Since the end of the season, the 6-foot-3 standout also earned national recognition from United Soccer Coaches as the National High School Player of the Year. He became a two-time State Player of the Year selection by the Maryland Association of Coaches of Soccer.

Training Like a Pro

No stranger to hard work, Klink said he spends well over 300 days each year focused on soccer training — whether on the pitch or in the weight room. When someone sees him play for the first time, he wants to be prepared to put on a show. And, most importantly, win.

“I think that it means everything to keep touches going, or keep in shape,” Klink said. “Because, you know, there’s always a greater challenge out there waiting for you.

“I think it all ties back to an end goal,” he continued. “To be the best player that you can be.”

A Family-Driven Mission

That dedication, he says, was instilled through his parents and the sacrifices they made to help him along the way.

“You know, all the time and effort that they put, kind of realizing that they have their own jobs, and they have their own social life,” Klink said of his parents. “When they put me ahead of them — showing them that trophy is all I can ask for.”

More Than an Athlete

Klink also works hard off the field, which plays a factor in Gatorade’s selections. In the classroom, he maintained a weighted 3.89 grade-point average. In the community, he served as founder and president of the Sports Analytics Club at Loyola Blakefield School. He also participated in the Arrupe Leaders Summit and volunteered with Beans and Bread and Francis X. Gallagher Services. He has been active with his church youth group and coached youth soccer in the community.

Bringing the award back to those people was a proud moment.

“It’s all a kid like me could ask for,” Klink said. “For the people that supported me, not just, you know, here in this community, but communities in the past as well, that really took me on … youth coaches that believed in me … it means everything.”

While he’s happy to talk about the past, it’s clear his sights are set on his next step. It’s a mindset most great athletes possess. There have been 13 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year winners who went on to become first-round picks in the MLS, and Klink certainly hopes to become another someday. He’s motivated by greatness and surrounded by former professionals. That’s all part of the dream. For now, he’s focused on winning an NCAA title.

That’s another thing: Gatorade National Boys Soccer Players of the Year have combined to win 12 national titles in the award’s history.

Next Stop: North Carolina

“I want to be the best player I can at UNC,” Klink said. “I want to be a guy in the locker room that’s hard working, just like Loyola’s fostered in me to be. I want to be able to win a national championship with (the Tar Heels). I want to be able to give them everything that I have.

“I think that developing one step at a time is most important,” he added. “I’m really just wanting to win a national championship for UNC. That’s all I’m looking forward to next.”

The Mindset Behind the Mission

Looking forward. Again, it’s a theme with the great ones. But why? What drives a person to run when nothing is chasing them? What drives a person to work when nobody else is watching? What’s with the blood, sweat and tears?

“You have to ask this question every day,” Klink said. “Whether that’s a bad day, you get a bad grade on a test, or, you know, you have a bad performance, bad game, bad pass. Whatever it may be. You ask yourself: why do you rebound? Why do you keep going back to something that may give you trouble?

“You just have to think of the end goal, and what you really want in life,” he continued. “And, you know, there’s so much good. It’s easy to keep track of the bad. It’s easy to, you know, shy away from the badness. But there’s so many people there supporting you.

“You have to realize that you’re an end goal, and you only live here once. So you’ve got to make the most of it and keep pushing.”

Goals. Dan Klink is great at scoring them, accomplished at achieving them and, you’d better believe, he’s always setting more of them.

Dan Klink was twice named Gatorade Maryland Boys Soccer Player of the Year before winning the overall national award in a surprise celebration at his school by Gatorade. / Dan Klink

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