Ever since connecting with soccer head coach Otto Berti in the summer of 2024, assistant soccer coach Evan Ridd has been balancing coaching and college life.

After a Superior Football Club practice, Ridd expressed to Berti that he felt that he could not cut it at that level anymore. Ridd asked Berti if he would like any assistance in coaching high school soccer, and Berti accepted his offer.

“The whole entire summer, we were basically just talking about how we were getting ready for the season and how Superior FC was still having games, but we’re making sure that I was all prepared to come and help you guys for this,” said Ridd.

Ridd is in charge of conditioning for the high school team. He set up runs and drills for them to go through in order to build stamina and become faster.

Ridd aims to teach Social Studies after his time in college. Currently, he has finished his four main years of college. He will later student teach and get experience in the classroom before he moves on to get his teaching degree.

“My major is broad field social studies, so that is a history major with education and teaching also included with it. Those classes are mainly just geared to get me ready for student teaching, and the history part of that is just continuing my knowledge through different parts of history.” said Ridd.

When asked about how each of his four years of high school and college soccer affected his student life, Ridd said that it was very difficult to focus, and he had a rough time in school. Procrastination was his main issue. Ridd gave some insight on how he struggled in college, but eventually prevailed.

“Freshman year I had a rough time with academics. Sophomore year, I actually got diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, and depression. Talking with a therapist, talking with my professors, getting that extra help that the university offered was really a huge part of that and it was just having me open up to people that were willing to help me that really, really helped me with that.” said Ridd.

So maybe all it takes is to ask for help sometimes. Maybe we all need that extra boost to help us get things done every once in a while.

Ridd still feels excited to play soccer all the time, and even says he still wishes to suit up and get on the field with the high schoolers. He aims to help get them ready for potentially playing in college but to enjoy the game at the same time.