New MRH head soccer coach relishes opportunity

Maplewood Richmond Heights boys soccer has a new coach. He’s young, but he sees that as a challenge.

Ryan Robertson, 25, is replacing Jamie Frisella as the MRH head soccer coach.

“I’m going to have a lot to learn, but the awesome thing about this team and me being the coach, and my assistant coach being just a year older than me—we’re all young and we’re all unproven, so the focus will be for all of us to relish opportunities to be in uncomfortable positions and make a name for yourself.”

Robertson went all the way through MRH, graduating in 2007, then on to the University of Tennessee, helping out coaching MRH soccer during the summers.

He was a volunteer assistant coach for a year then became a paid assistant coach for baseball and soccer since 2011.

He said at least half of the team plays baseball and soccer. “We already have the trust and communication, which will make the transition a lot easier,” he said. “We had success with baseball this year (winning Districts). That’s something we can build on, and keep being successful.”

Robertson said the majority of the team is returning, with a lot of them having played significant varsity minutes as freshmen and sophomores. “We should be a great point of blossoming physically and mentally,” he said.

He hopes to inspire his players beyond the soccer pitch.

“I can tell these guys, I’ve walked the same streets, the same hallways, so I want to be a beacon of inspiration to them, to say, I went to University of Tennessee,” he said.

“At the end of my tenure here, I want the hallmark of my time here to be that I got kids out of here to stretch themselves further.”