"It's really wonderful to be around these kids," said his mother, Karen, referring to the youngsters and the 80 or so of Hicks' classmates from Henderson High School in West Chester who were staffing the clinic. "If we don't have our son, we need to make sure that what he wanted is accomplished."
What he wanted was to spread his Christian beliefs through friendship and helping others.
So after his death, the Hickses established the Andrew L. Hicks Jr. Foundation to continue the volunteer work he had done in Chester with his church.
The foundation helped sponsor the soccer clinic. But it was organized by three Henderson students and friends of Hicks' - Maddy Mrugal, Suzanne Sanders, and Jessica Ryan - who made it their senior project.
The trio might not have known just how much more than an athletic activity the soccer clinic was.
There were the children of Chester, recruited through the Chester City United Soccer League and a Christian school where Karen Hicks volunteers, having a soccer ball as they practiced dribbling, kicking, and other skills.
Nine-year-old Ahmad was a grinning, goal-scoring machine. Even more energetic was 7-year-old Taryn, her braids flopping as she ran breathlessly into the arms of Karen Hicks, whom she knows from the school.
"I was over there, and I kicked two goals without looking," said Taryn, scrunching her eyes shut and jutting out her right leg.
The hug spurred a more intimate moment of celebrating Andrew Hicks' spirit, as his mother told the girl that he had been her teacher once in vacation Bible school.
There was Pat Trippley Demiranda, 54, of Chester, who Saturday shared a smile and a sad bond with Karen Hicks - the loss of a child.
Demiranda also started a foundation, the William Trippley Youth Development Foundation, after her son was killed in 2004 by a bullet meant for others.
His death, she said, "took all my breath away."
