Creating Opportunities

On Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons in the fall, you can typically find Molly Richey sitting in the TV booth at John Crain Field, on the call for all Oklahoma home games. The former walk-on turned captain of the OU soccer team enjoys the new perspective she has of the game and cherishes an opportunity that Richey never thought she would have.

Taking advantage of opportunities has been a sort of life-motto for Richey. Anytime she has faced adversity in her life, she has managed to turn it into something positive for herself.

As a freshman in high school at Bishop T.K. Gorman in Tyler, Texas, Richey found herself playing for the boy's team as no girl's team existed. After suffering a concussion, her parents pulled her away from the boy's team, prompting Richey to take matters into her own hands.

“I approached a group of girls that were playing club soccer that went to my school,” Richey said. “I approached them about trying to start a girls' team and I also talked to my parents about it. I talked to the people in charge at the school and I remember them saying 'if you can get enough girls to sign this piece of paper you can start a girls' team and you have to make sure you have some fundraising.' I knew that I had my parents behind me to help kind of back that. We ended up getting enough signatures and we started the first girls' team at T.K. Gorman.”

The opportunity to start a new program at her school gave Richey a chance to get back to what she considered the “fun” part of soccer.

“It's a huge deal playing high school soccer,” she said. “Playing club soccer is obviously the more important piece when going through the recruitment stages of your high school years. The high school component of soccer is always just kind of this fun way of playing soccer where you are with your friends. It was really important, and I didn't want to have that void, I guess, of not playing high school soccer with some of my girlfriends.”

With her high school career coming to an end, the recruitment letters began arriving. Prior to high school, Richey never thought she'd end up at OU. Conversations with her club coach prompted her to take a visit to campus. It was that visit that led Richey to decide that she would spend the next four years as a Sooner.

Molly Richey walked-on to the OU soccer team in 2010.

“I contacted the coach (at the time) and went on an unofficial visit with my parents,” Richey said. “We all kind of fell in love with the school and the community. I remember touring the facilities, the soccer facilities are just amazing. They are beautiful. So, I fell in love with the school and I knew it was where I wanted to be.”

But Richey's path to becoming a member of the OU soccer team would come with obstacles. Richey was offered a preferred walk-on spot and arrived to the first day of preseason to find that she didn't have a nameplate on her locker. She would have to earn a spot not only on the field, but on the team as well.

“I remember thinking at the time 'how awesome, this is where I want to be, this is what I want to do'. Obviously, I think I didn't really understand even though I was a walk-on, it was still going to be a position I was going to have to earn when I got here. I remember when I showed up for the first day of preseason, I was one of the only players who didn't have a name on my locker. I remember thinking at that time 'wow, this is still something I'm going to have to earn'.

Richey redshirted her freshman season and only appeared in six games during her first season of action.

“I think anytime you have a player who is playing in high school and on their club teams then you get to college and you're competing with girls who are all the same skill set as you are, it is hard to be benched,” Richey said. “Through that adversity, you kind of find yourself as a player. I think it's something in the long run that has taught me what it takes to be successful in soccer and in general.”

Instead of letting the lack of playing time become something to worry about, Richey used it as motivation. The arrival of Matt Potter changed not only the dynamic of the team, but the dynamic of Richey's career.

“From the beginning of my time here, all that work was making sure I was one of the fittest on the team,” Richey said. “Maybe not finishing first every time in fitness but in the top three and so I think fitness was a huge component. Then once Coach Potter got here, the dynamic of the team really changed. Especially for me and other players who weren't seeing the time on the field that they were wanting to see, we all kind of got to look at it as a fresh start. That's exactly what I did, and I made sure I wasn't going through the motions, I wanted to commit to being a better version of myself.”

In her final three seasons, Richey started every match and was named a captain for her junior and senior years. On a road trip during her junior year, Potter pulled Richey aside to inform her that she was no longer a walk-on and would now be on scholarship.

Molly Richey was named a captain at OU for her junior and senior years.

“That moment was really special,” Richey said. “Being the walk-on, you have all your friends on the team who are obviously on scholarships. It was just kind of a recognition that you're doing a really good job and you're contributing so much to this team and I want to give something to you for sticking it out. It was a really special moment.”

Now an alumnus and in her third year of law school, Richey serves as a commentator for all OU home soccer games. She is set to graduate in May and will move to Dallas to begin working for a law firm downtown. Her success throughout this entire journey can be attributed to one thing: her willingness to take advantage of every opportunity in her path.

“I think that there have been so many opportunities that have come my way and I think it's like that for a lot of people,” Richey said. “It's just a matter of recognizing those opportunities and taking advantage of them. There were a lot of interviews when I started law school that I didn't get the job position, but it was still a matter of taking those opportunities.

“Going back to high school, I had an opportunity to play with the boys and that didn't work out so we kind of had to create a new opportunity for myself, so we looked into starting a girls' team. I think the biggest theme is just taking advantage of the opportunities given to you and I think OU has really been a huge source to all of those opportunities.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors