RRHS boys soccer focused on establishing culture

The Rio Rancho High School Boys soccer team could be found on the upper grass soccer fields doing pushups Thursday.

“Whenever we call out the name of a district school, everyone drops and does their pushups,” head coach John “Shep” Shepard said. “It’s always a friendly rivalry: we love Cibola, we love Cleveland, we love all these other teams. They’re like our brothers: the brother you want to beat up while Mom is not looking.”

June is the time of the year where Shepard believes the priority for his program is the mindset of his players.

“For the first part of the summer, it is about indoctrination, the right type of attitudes and habits. We are big about respect and being positive with your teammates and a culture of hard work and accountability, “ Shepard said. So, we spend most of June indoctrinating those habits rather than some kind of special tactics or crazy formations or anything.”

This is not coach Shepard’s first rodeo; he has been the head coach of the RRHS soccer team since 2003 and won RRHS their first state championship in boys soccer during the 2020-21 season.

“It’s working out pretty good. We got to teach the young guys the ways of being respectful and accountable,” Shepard said.

Throughout the day, Ram players played games with the mini soccer nets, different forms of possession, half-field defenders versus offensive attacks, full-field scrimmages, and even fast-break scenarios that pushed defenders to recover quickly.

PHOTOS: Ram boys soccer summer 2024 practice

“We’re just trying to win state. So, we are out here, getting to know each other, getting fit, getting some touches before the season, whatever it takes,” senior Sean Meserve said.

Meserve is a midfielder who is coming off a season in which he scored nine goals and had four assists. If you are seeing two, don’t be alarmed because his brother, Aaron Meserve, also plays on the team and seems to have a knack for scoring goals, too; he scored 10 goals last season.

“Summers are important for getting to know your teammates, their playing style, growing as a team and learning the ‘Ram’ way,” junior Micah Brichford said.

Brichford is a Swiss army knife who can play on any level of the field. In the previous season, he played right back, midfielder and striker. On this day, Brichford displayed a high game knowledge IQ on the field, made clean passes and was fantastic at processing the field.

All coaches in attendance stopped play many times to speak with players and break down a play live so that they could praise the player for his decision or note if adjustments needed to be made. Part of the Rams’ culture is taking responsibility for decisions.

“We do it right there right on the spot because we want to have it fresh in their mind; they're not going to remember it in 10 minutes, so we ask them, 'OK, so what was your thought process?'” Shepard said. “It’s important that they take ownership of their decisions; that’s how young men become good members of society. Take ownership of your decisions, make good decisions, explain yourself and try to make a better decision next time.”

During a game with the mini soccer nets, players were rapidly passing the ball to each other until one player took a shot and scored from midrange. Shep stopped play immediately and asked the player why he shot the ball.

The player explained his thinking, and then immediately Shep said, “Wow, that’s a great reason for shooting. You surprised me. I was not expecting that answer, but it makes sense, so great play!”

The team finished with sprints, shout outs to some standout players, and reminders about developing a culture based on positive reinforcement, accountability and respect.

With the fall season less than two months away, Shepard promises that his squad will bring a fast, hard-working brand of soccer to the field but more importantly that his squad will compete with dignity and class on the field.

“An old coach told me, ‘In your entire career, you’ll be lucky to coach two to three professional players, but every single one of the kids that you coach will become a young man.’ These boys will become a member of society, are going to become a father or a dad, or someone’s employee or someone's boss. So, the two or three that are going to become professionals, good on them. But, the rest of them are going to become members of society. Isn’t that our kind of our duty, as an educational system, to help them be better at that, too? So, we are real big on being good members of society. I think you can teach a lot of that through sports.”