THE HANNAH WELKER MEMORIAL "SPIRIT OF THE GAME" AWARD
Each year beginning in 2010, Bay Area soccer fans, through SSVCF, will honor an FC Gold Pride player who best exemplifies community service with the Hannah Welker Memorial "Spirit of the Game" Award. The inaugural award was bestowed this year at the 2010 SSVCF Annual Dinner.
One of the great things about the FC Gold Pride is that they are champions not only on the pitch but off. They make fans proud by their service to the community, greatly transcending what we have become accustomed to with typical American sports stars. They befriend the fans, coach our kids, appear at neighborhood barbecues and support causes such as the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We fans help foster and maintain that spirit among the players with this award.
The award is named for Hannah Welker, a young soccer player and fan who passed away at age 12 in 2008 in an accident on Interstate I-5 coming home from a soccer tournament in Irvine, CA. She was riding with her mother Heidi and older sister Sarah.
Hannah, nicknamed "H" by her teammates, played for the U13 NV/San Jose Thunder with the number 47 on her jersey.
Hannah truly embodied the “Spirit of the Game,” as memorialized by her teammates in a poem: "Dedication, determination, attitude, and pride/Never leaving a teammate’s side." We aim to recognize these attributes both on the field and off, through the “Spirit of the Game” award bestowed by the fans in Hannah’s name.
The Hannah Welker Memorial Spirit of the Game Award is presented every year at SSVCF's Annual Dinner. For more information or tickets, visit the Annual Dinner page.
