Naomi Riches '24 Recruiting Profile

Hello, my name is Naomi Riches, Rocky Bayou Christian School’s class of 2024. I have been a soccer player for most of my life, and I absolutely love it. My regular yearly soccer schedule is to play a fall league, then the school soccer season, then a spring league. We do camps during the summer, and I do regular practice on my own and with my private coach, Joshua Finley.

My three sisters and I have been playing soccer together for years and years. Because we have a big family, and because our faith is so important to us, my parents decided early on that we would not participate in travel soccer. The financial cost and, more importantly, the expectation of playing on Sundays, made it the right choice for our family. I know that my path to college soccer is not the normal one because I was not in a travel league, but I hope my other accomplishments will show how dedicated I am to being the best soccer player I can be.

A few other things to share? Well, my fall and spring leagues are U18, mixed leagues, so I have the opportunity to play against boys and other girls, most of which have been older than me. I’ve been playing up in the U18 league since I was 13, and having boys on the field has been a great help with my toughness. Also, I have been on my school’s varsity team since the 6^th grade, when I was invited on after the middle school season. I have been a full-time starter since the 8^th grade. My primary position in the fall and summer league is as an attacking midfielder, which is my preferred position, but I play center back at school, because that is where my coach needs me most. Also, I have won defensive player of the year for our school my freshman and sophomore years.

Over the summers I’ve been privileged to work under lots of great coaches from Coach Mark Krikorian at the FSU soccer camps and the Florida Soccer School’s Michael Bunel the technical director for the Le Havre HAC Pro Academy in France as well as Munga Eketebi who has over 30 years of collegiate coaching experience at the D1, D2, and JUCO levels.  I’ve done the Coerver clinic and summer training with AYSO, as well as lots of other camps.

My private coach is named Joshua Finley. We have worked together for ­­­4 years. My favorite thing about time with Josh is how hard he pushes me to get the fundamentals of soccer down, because you can’t be a great soccer player without having the foundation you need to go to the next level.

In addition to soccer, I try to stay well-rounded in the rest of my life. My faith is the most important thing to me, and my walk with God. So is my family. We have spent a lot of time together, so I had better like them! At school I am in chamber choir, varsity cheerleading, SGA, Beta Club, Math club, Leadership Trek, and Student Government.  I am a nursery volunteer at our church, and try to do missions camps whenever we can make it work. I have attended Rocky Bayou Christian School since I was 4 years old, and it has given me a spiritual and academic foundation that I think will suit me really well in college.

And that’s me! I would love to be able to continue playing soccer in college. It is something that I have dreamed about for a very long time. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Looking forward to meeting you!