Bearden was presented with the award by the Spence Family and the Kickers at the Kickers’ last home match
RICHMOND, Va. – The Richmond Kickers and the Spence family were pleased to honor Henry Bearden with the 2023 Avery Spence Youth Community Service Award on Saturday, July 15th, during halftime at the Kickers pro game versus Charlotte Independence.
Established to honor Kickers youth player, Avery Spence, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident on May 1, 2011, the Avery Spence Youth Community Service Award was presented to Bearden by the Spence family based on criteria including exemplary volunteer involvement, commitment, leadership, and athletic and academic achievements.
A member of the Richmond Kickers program since U11, Henry has been an incredible teammate and a wonderful leader at all levels of the boys’ program. He played on multiple classic teams and spent the last three years on the elite team. Henry was an integral part of the elite team that went on to win the league twice, qualify for the regional and national tournaments twice, and win the State Cup in 2020.
“Henry is an extremely hardworking and talented student-athlete,” said Mark Stollsteimer, Richmond Kickers Youth Technical Director. “He worked his way up from a Classic Player to the captain of the U19 Elite Red team that captured the ECNL-RL regular season title. Henry always represents himself and the Kickers in a first-class manner. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
As a four-year member of the Steward varsity soccer team, Henry was named captain in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. He was TCIS All conference as well as VISAA First Team All-State in both his junior and senior years. Henry was awarded the Steward Soccer Leadership Award and the 2023 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Student-Athlete of the Year award.
As a student at The Steward School, Henry earned his entrepreneurship endorsement on his diploma, earned straight A honor roll all four years, was a member of the National Honor Society, a member of the Hispanic Honor Society, and was named a National Merit Scholar. He was named 2022 Junior Marshal — the highest honor awarded to a junior at Steward. Henry was the 2023 class’ vice president, a health occupation Students of America officer, and the editor of the school newspaper. He was selected to develop and run marketing events for Saxon Shoes, selected to participate in the University of Richmond structure determination chemistry workshop, and selected to conduct biomedical engineering research at VCU. Upon graduation, Henry was awarded the Top of the Class Award, the Science Department Award, and the Dixon Award which is Steward’s highest honor and is awarded to one senior annually.
While Henry found success both on the soccer field and in the classroom, his compassion and commitment to others is what sets him apart. Henry volunteered 100-plus hours throughout his high school career as a volunteer with Special Olympics, preparing meals for the homeless through Grace and Holy Trinity Church, and as a buddy with RVAccess.
“We’ve loved having Henry as a buddy and as a leader at RVAccess,” said Carter Yeisley, director of RVAccess. “Henry was wonderful with each of the different athletes he worked with and was a great leader for his fellow volunteers. He even took it upon himself to start an RVAccess club at Steward to promote our mission and help recruit more buddies. We couldn’t be more grateful for all Henry has done for us and are so excited to see what the future holds for him.”
At Steward, he also volunteers countless hours as an event coordinating volunteer, a marketing department volunteer, and a volunteer lab assistant.
This fall, Henry will be attending the University of Virginia and plans to study medical and engineering sciences. He has been named as one of 38 recipients of the prestigious Jefferson Scholarship, one of the most highly selective merit scholarships in the nation.
About the Avery Spence Youth Community Service Award
Richmond Kickers Chairman, Rob Ukrop presented the inaugural Avery Spence Youth Community Service award to the Spence family on July 8, 2011, to honor the memory of Kickers youth player Avery Spence and her commitment to the Richmond community. A longstanding member of the Richmond Kickers youth club, she started with the Kickers rec program when she was nine years old, progressing with arguably the best girls team in the Kickers Girls Elite program over seven seasons. A committed volunteer, Avery donated countless hours throughout the Richmond community, was in the academic top ten in her class at Manchester High School and was heading to Virginia Tech in the fall to pursue a career in dentistry. Avery had a love for life, sharing her time and talent with kids of all ages. Past award recipients include former Kickers players Ashley Riefner (University of Richmond), Blayne Fink (Virginia Tech), Peter Coiley (Virginia Tech), Blake Cashin (VMI), Sawyer Gaffney (Davidson), Shaan Sharma (William and Mary), Caelan Colaiacovo (Coker College), Emma Muir (Randolph Macon), Sydney Marshall (UVA), Emma Mitchell (W&L), and Carter Dixon (JMU).
