ROCKINGHAM - The Richmond Adult Soccer League, which was created two years ago by husband and wife Chris and Deana Singletary, is doing a lot more than giving local adults a chance to get out and exercise.
For the second straight spring, the Singletarys used the proceeds of RASL and the accompanying adult kickball league to award three Richmond Senior High School soccer players with an academic scholarship. In order to receive the scholarship, recipients must have played soccer at Richmond for at least three years, and is reserved for soccer players only.
Senior Lady Raider Hanna Millen and counterparts Zane Ritter and Carter Roberson were each presented with a $900 scholarship to be used for their upcoming freshman year. Millen is planning to attend Richmond Community College for two years and then transfer to UNC Pembroke’s nursing program.
Ritter will attend UNC Wilmington in the fall and study chemistry, while Roberson will make his way to UNC Chapel Hill and major in political science.
The trio of soccer players all played for now-retired head coach Bennie Howard the past couple of seasons. As a striker, Millen led the Lady Raiders with 13 goals, including two hat tricks, during her senior season, and helped Richmond earn a home playoff game. Roberson, a midfielder, netted one goal during his senior campaign, and helped lock down the middle of the field in front of Ritter, who was a key performer at center back for the Raiders.
Out of the 17 eligible Richmond seniors in the graduating class of 2018, Millen, Ritter and Roberson were the only three to apply. Last year, former Richmond soccer standouts Alex Alvarado (UNCP) and Cassie McFayden (Lees-McRae College) received the then $600 scholarship after writing an essay and being selected on that basis.
This year, the Singletarys decided to “divide the available funds evenly and award the three students.” The initial plan was to award the three players at RASL’s summer season opener in Hamlet on Tuesday, but the string of wet weather forced the games wait -- but not the scholarships.
“The (scholarship) presentation was to be held at the field, but the weather delayed the start of the season,” Chris Singletary explained. “So, we went to dinner at Mi Casita instead. None of the three players were aware that they were chosen until I made the announcement at dinner. I planned it that way with all of the parents.”
As explained by Singletary, whose daughter Crimson played on Richmond’s junior varsity team this season, the scholarship amounts were determined by the total funds raised through RASL and the kickball league over the last year. Everything from team fees and concession sales are put into the scholarship fund.
“To be able to offer adult sports to the community, and have the support of my family and over 250 players in soccer and kickball to award these scholarships using the money that is collected from team fees is a great feeling,” he said.
“I try to maintain a low entry fee for these teams to make it affordable,” he continued. “We do everything ourselves from painting lines to clean up after the games. A lot of the referees donate their time, which adds more money to the fund. And to be able to hand out this amount of money is phenomenal.”
Singletary noted that RASL was able to raise more than double the amount this year than the previous year, allowing for the three winners to be chosen and given more money. For anyone interested in helping donate to the RASL scholarship, should contact the Singletarys.
Chris Singletary contributed to this article.
