Boys’ varsity soccer has begun a successful and positive season with its new head coach, Tom Redmond. The team has had a great season so far, currently with four wins, one loss and one tie. Also, the team has placed second place when they opened their season at the MICDS contest. According to Redmond, this recent success is due to the strengths of the team.
“Right now what I like the most is that we’re becoming really cohesive and so we’re starting to play better defensively,” Redmond said. “One of our strong points is midfield play because we have two really good seniors, Kevin Matheny and Beau Haydon who control midfield play very well.”
In the past, Redmond coached college soccer for 16 years. His first two years were at Indiana University as assistant coach from 1976 to 1977. He then was an assistant coach at University of Missouri St. Louis from 1986 to 1990, and he coached as head coach at UMSL from 1991 to 2000. After 2000 until now he took a break from college and high school soccer and coached his daughter’s club soccer team, the Liberty Team.
Redmond decided to start coaching again this year after retiring from working in the St. Louis County Family Court where he worked for 30 years. He also began a teaching job with the Neuwoehmer School for Special Needs students as a Health and Physical Education teacher.
“I love both jobs,” Redmond said. “They’re really great.”
Redmond grew up in St. Louis and attended Donneth Kennedy High School, and the attended Meramac Community College for two years.
“That’s where my soccer career kind of took off because we won the national title my freshman year and we were runner up my sophomore year,” Redmond said.
After that Redmond attended and played soccer at Indiana University, which was just taking off as a varsity status team when Redmond joined. The team was coached by current National Soccer Hall of Fame coach, Jerry Yeagley. Yeagley’s teams have won six NCAA championships and a Division I record 544 games. He was also a NCAA Champion as a soccer player himself.
“That one of the things I’ve been fortunate to have is to say that I’ve played under Jerry Yeagley at Indiana University. . . It really is amazing and has been a strong influence in my life,” Redmond said. “Also, while I was at UMSL I was able to work under Coach Don Dallas . . . he was a really, really great coach. I’ve got a lot of great people over the years, I’ve been really lucky.”
According to boys’ varsity soccer team’s assistant coach Eric Gruenenfelder, Redmond’s past experience shows up in his coaching.
“Redmond is very positive and creates a good environment for the team . . . he especially has a wealth of experience from coaching other teams which have shaped his coaching,” Gruenenfelder said.
Senior and co-captain of the team Beau Haydon agrees that Redmond brings out the strengths of the team.
“I really like him [Redmond]—he’s pretty laid back, but at the same time he has still challenged us to do our best,” Haydon said.
Gruenenfelder states that it’s been educational and fun to work with him.
“It’s been a pleasure working with him. I’ve learned a lot since I started working with him and best of all the team takes to him very well,” Guenenfelder said.
The team especially is happy with its recent victory against Ladue, in which Clayton won 4-0. Haydon was especially happy with the outcome of the game.
“It was an awesome game. It was my senior year and a four [to] nothing against Ladue. There was not much more I could hope for,” Haydon said.
Redmond especially enjoys coaching Clayton and looks forward to their season.
“I think the best part about Clayton is the personality of the team and how well they get along together,” Redmond said. “I really like that. There’s good senior leadership especially in the co-captains. I really like coaching this team and I look forward to it. It’s great how the team’s outlook is really positive- we’ve only got one loss and one tie but the guys feel like we should have won both of those games. Their attitudes are really good. That’s the rewarding thing for me–to enjoy what I’m doing.”