October 2, 2002

Coach puts English on the ball

Gavin Richmond brings worldly experience to Traverse City soccer scene

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       Marveling at the sunny, warm afternoon last Saturday, Gavin Richmond was doing what he loves to do best: watching soccer, working with kids and playing soccer. Hanging out for the day at the TBAYS soccer fields, helping out wherever needed, Richmond is becoming a fixture on the soccer scene in town.
      The English native recently settled in the area with a four-year plan of getting an education degree and teaching physical education somewhere in the United States. As a veteran soccer coach and new college student - after a 14-year hiatus from cracking the books - basking under the blue skies was a long way from another dreary northern England fall and a dead end job.
      "The reason I am studying here is that I would like to stay here," said Richmond, who is taking 14 credits and working part-time at the college and hopes to start an intramural soccer program at NMC. "I took my first math test in 14 years last week and got a 3.5. I'm over the moon about that."
      Richmond grew up in Newcastle, a working class English town 50 miles south of the border with Scotland. Known for its extensive coal mines (as in the saying "like bringing coal to Newcastle") and manufacturing, Newcastle is located 275 miles north of London.
      Richmond grew up wanting to be a professional soccer player. He played on city leagues throughout his youth as well as in any pick up games that sprung up in the neighborhood. Attending college and getting a professional degree were never in his plans, only soccer.
      He showed promise as a central defender and by 18 was playing semi-pro and also cricket, making it to the equivalent of a Major League Baseball Triple A team. An injury at 21 sidetracked his dreams and he hung up his football boots (as they are called in England) for two years.
      "Here, kids want to be a doctor or a lawyer, but every boy in England wants to be a soccer player," said Richmond, noting soccer is a grass roots sport there, not so middle class. "I always fancied myself a forward, scoring all the goals, but I wasn't fast enough for that."
      Richmond began coaching soccer part time in the mid-1990s and by 1998 he jumped at the chance to coach in the United States. He helped at summer camps around the Midwest for a Major League Soccer team called the Chicago Fire. Since then, he has traveled during the summers with MLS to 40 states coaching soccer and developing a deep appreciation for this vast country.
      "I love it here, every state is like a different country," said Richmond, who has yet to travel to Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii. "My favorite state is New Jersey, it is beautiful. Morristown is nice and busy and always something happening there; the Jersey shore is unbelievable."
      His link to Traverse City began a few summers ago when he came to the area to conduct an eight-week soccer camp for kids. He met Scott Herzberg and the two forged a fast friendship. At the time, Herzberg was director of coaches for TBAYS whose responsibilities also included finding housing for out-of-area coaches. After a short visit by Richmond in the summer of 2000, Herzberg arranged for him to coach all summer in 2001 and invited him to stay with his family.
      "Gavin has a way with the kids, his heart's in it," said Herzberg, who is again hosting Richmond while he gets settled in the area. "They really see it and respond to it. He's a kid at heart and his thing is they have fun with soccer."
      Teaching life skills to kids is central to Richmond's coaching philosophy. Soccer is just the vehicle for accomplishing that.
      "I try to motivate people to be better players and better people," said Richmond, who this fall is helping out the area's select girls and boys traveling soccer teams. "It's not just about soccer, it is a life lesson. I use fun games to teach them the fundamentals, create a storybook lesson."
      Being an older, international college student does have a few challenges, but Richmond handles them all with characteristic aplomb. He has mastered driving on the other side of the road and usually remembers not to call his favorite game 'football,' the name for soccer in countries besides the United States.
      Of course, he does have one great 'football' story, from his very first coaching job in this country.
      "I was in Menominee and some of the kids did not bring their soccer balls to practice, so I told them to bring their footballs next week," Richmond recalled. "Of course, they did, those other ones."