By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
After a season spent rebuilding the Cleveland High School football program with a roster too small to compete at the varsity level, head coach Robert Richmond is entering his second year with a significant sign of progress: 24 players ready to take the field for varsity football.
A year ago, Cleveland could only field a junior varsity team, with the program fielding a maximum of 11 or 12 players for its games. This season, the team has more than doubled its numbers, giving the Eagles an opportunity to compete at the varsity level while continuing to build a foundation for the future.
“It’s a great start, but we are nowhere near the end. This is just a great start, and I think that’s amazing,” said Richmond. “I’m very satisfied with where we are right now. It’s a decent second year in real time, and we’re ready to go.”
The growth, according to Richmond, has come largely from within the program. Players who were part of the team two years ago remained committed to helping bring more students into the program after experiencing a difficult season.
“It’s all the players. These guys, my juniors, who were here two years ago, and when it didn’t go so well, they vowed,” said Richmond. “These guys were committed to getting kids out, and they are helping start the program from the inside out.”
That player-led effort has allowed the coaching staff to focus more on football while giving current players an active role in recruiting their classmates.
“A lot of my job right now is coaching, and they’re doing the self-policing. I just get to coach now, which is great,” Richmond said. “I have some young captains, and they are really, really doing a good job, and so that helps me get in the school, talk to the kids because they’re doing it too.”
Half of Cleveland’s 24-player roster is made up of freshmen, giving the Eagles a young group of players Richmond hopes can help strengthen the program beyond this season.
“As students, prospective football players in the school are hearing it from two different areas: students and coaching. They didn’t get that before, and so that’s huge,” Richmond said. “My players are letting students know, hey, we’re ready to go, and you know we have got 12 freshmen right now, and that’s outstanding.”
Richmond said many of the younger players already developed relationships with one another through middle school and their years of attending school together.
“The chemistry is actually really great, and that is because they went to school together, and they’ve gone to middle school together,” said Richmond. “All of those years of school together, spending time with each other every day, they have gotten used to each other and built that chemistry.”
With just 24 players on the varsity roster, however, Cleveland will have little room for error. Players are expected to contribute on both sides of the ball, making conditioning a major point of emphasis throughout the season.
“They already know we’re going both ways. They just know that,” said Richmond. “So our conditioning is really what’s going to make the difference, and win the game at the end of the day.”
Richmond said the players understand the physical demands that come with having a smaller roster and have bought into the work required to compete for four quarters.
“They have bought in. They know what this season is going to take,” said Richmond. “They know they have to do the running, right? The conditioning piece is big, because the game is four quarters. We can’t do three and a half quarters, and say I got to go home.”
The team’s rebuilding effort has also been accompanied by an unexpected challenge away from the field. Just before the start of the season, a water pipe burst in the team’s locker room, forcing Cleveland’s football players into the smaller visiting boys’ locker room, which is also used by other sports.
“We went from a five-bedroom house to a studio apartment, and it was all overnight,” Richmond explained.
Despite the inconvenience and reduced space, Richmond said the players have adapted to the temporary arrangement.
“We’re ready to go back into our room, whatever that is, whenever they say it,” said Richmond. “We’re ready to rock and roll because we’re all on top of each other, and it’s been very different to manage.”
“They’re just dealing with it, and that is the great news about these kids that I have. They’re very, very adaptable,” said Richmond. “Nobody’s really complaining and saying why us. They don’t have that attitude. They are great kids, great people, and I love that about them.”
Richmond is also encouraged by the mix of young players developing across the roster, particularly on the offensive line.
“We are starting from the front and working our way back, and the chemistry has helped,” said Richmond. “And I’m very, very, very happy that I’ve got a great mix of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors on my offensive line.”
As Cleveland returns to varsity competition, Richmond said his measure of progress goes beyond simply making it through this season. He wants the program to continue attracting players so the Eagles finish the year with an even stronger foundation than they started with.
“When I started last year, I wanted more kids the year after I started, and I have that,” said Richmond. “This year, I want us to look back at the last game of the year, which is going to be Lakeside, and I want us to have more kids on our roster than we do now, or at least on the sideline that can say I’m playing football next year.”
