In the past year, the Chamblee soccer program has undergone its fair share of drama, including losing the boys’ coach after only one year and almost losing the girls’ coach this fall. Fortunately, there is hope, as the boys’ soccer team recently acquired a new varsity coach for the 2019 season.
His name is Robert Richmond, and he has been coaching for almost 25 years now. Just this past year, he was the coach for the Lakeside High School boys’ soccer team but decided to part ways.
“There was a difference of opinion as to the vision/future of the program,” said Richmond.
After hearing about the open Chamblee position through the news, Richmond became interested in applying for the job.
“I was lucky to be available when the position became available,” said Richmond.
Transitioning from one coach to another is always hard for a team, especially when the old coach had been an integral part of the program. Losing former coach Uwe Neuhaus has been difficult for many of the parents, players, and other leaders in the program.
Nonetheless, Richmond will do his best to adjust accordingly.
“Every team is different, whether I was here last year or not. The make-up, the talent, the chemistry of a team changes from year to year,” said Richmond. “As a coach, I have to do my best to adjust my coaching to the players that I have on the squad.”
But Richmond hopes to overcome these challenges early on, so that he can focus on his other goals for the team.
“Though the record last year did not show it, 5-11-1, this was a fairly solid team,” said Richmond. “We want to improve upon that for the obvious reasons and demonstrate to everyone how good, how much quality Chamblee soccer has.”
One of his goals is to help the boys make it farther into the state playoffs, like the girls’ soccer team did last year.
“We want to be as successful and respected as our girls’ team has become in the county and in the state,” said Richmond. “We can definitely do that with hard work and the right mindset.”
That hard work is starting right now; the first interest meeting will occur on Wednesday, November 7 in the weight room, which is where the team will spend a lot of time doing preseason conditioning under the guidance of girls’ soccer coach Curtis Mattair.
Tryouts for the team will be held next semester during the week of Monday, January 14. Richmond encourages any and all boys who are interested in playing to come to the first meeting next week and continue to attend conditioning sessions.
“My goals and the team goals are one and the same,” said Richmond. “Who knows what we can achieve with some hard work, some skill, and a little bit of luck.”
