Piedmont Athens Regional and the Athens Banner-Herald present the first athlete of the week poll for the 2026-27 school year.
Each week, a handful of student-athletes from the 18 schools in the paper's coverage zone will be nominated to earn the title based on their in-game performance from the previous week. Coaches are being asked for nominations, but if you'd like to send nominations yourself, please email stidwell@gannett.com and include the player's name, grade level, school, sport, position and why they're being nominated (like their stats from a specific game).
Below are the nominees for the week of Aug. 10-16. The poll will be open until Sunday, Aug. 23 at 5 p.m. New polls will run every Monday, so please have nominations in every Saturday. Once a player has won the title, they can no longer be put on the list.