The 2008 Cancer Soccer Clinic will be held Saturday, January 26 at the Lexington Soccer Fields. Donations can be made for $25 that go towards cancer research. The clinic will be held from 9:00-11:30 a.m. and from 1:30-3:30 p.m. and conducted by LCSC Director of Coaching Alan Riches.
Here is an article from last spring about the clinic.
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Posted on Sun, Feb. 04, 2007
Soccer camp fundraiser has lofty goal
In honor of his late wife, organizer uses money raised for cancer research</i>
By DEVON COPELAND,
dcopeland@thestate.comAlan Riches lives and breathes soccer. From his days growing up in Hereford, England, it’s remained the sport near and dear to his heart.
But when his wife of 19 years, Barbara, died of a rare form of cancer two years ago, he was forced to reassess his priorities.
What he came up with was the Barbara Riches Memorial Camp — a one-day soccer camp for children that blends his love of “football” with his desire to raise cancer awareness.
“My wife gave so much to me and my daughter while she was alive,” Riches said. “It made sense to spend (at least) one weekend out of my life to raise awareness.”
Saturday marked the camp’s second year as about 60 children took to the field at the Gibson Soccer Complex in Lexington County to show they could bend it like Beckham.
Camp participants paid $25 for a full day of soccer drills and mini-tournaments.
Last year Riches’ company, Technical Soccer, raised $2,175 for the memorial fund named in his wife’s honor. He said every little bit helps to fund research into leiomyosarcoma, which affects 4 people in every 1 million.
According to The National Leiomyosarcoma Foundation, the disease spreads through the bloodstream and can affect the lungs, liver, blood vessels or any other soft tissue in the body.
“The survival rate is nonexistent, basically,” Riches said of the disease. “Obviously this is about my wife, but there are a lot of people who are sick and who will become sick.
“Hopefully, we can raise enough money before that happens.”
He wasn’t alone in his quest. Other sponsors of the camp were the Melting Pot, which provided melted chocolate energy and strawberries for the players, Starbucks Coffee of Five Points and Krispy Kreme Donuts.
Toss in about 20 staff members, many from the Lexington County Soccer Club, where Riches is director, and a couple of students he coaches and there was a full field.
Riches hopes to see the memorial camp grow and eventually become a tournament called the Cancer Cup, where soccer players come to compete and raise money.
But at the end of the day, when the soccer balls are put away and the shin guards are packed up, Riches and daughter Emma, 27, will take a moment to remember Barbara and hope she’s smiling down on them.
“She calmed me down,” he said. “I guess she completed me.”
TO LEARN MORE
To learn more about leiomyosarcoma, go to
http://www.nlmsf.org]www.nlmsf.orgTo learn more about Alan Riches and Technical Soccer, go to
http://www.technicalsoccer.com
