Ridge Meadows Soccer Club continues to grow its organization with the addition of two new technical positions.

Graham Thompson and Riley Murray have both been promoted to assistant technical directors.

The pair have both been coaching with RMSC for the past two seasons, and according to sporting director Craig Dalrymple, have contributed a lot.

“They’re familiar faces with the club, and have held different positions as team coaches, age group coordinators, and during my six months with the organization, they’ve been right-hand men for me,” he said.

“They’ve got some really good ideas. They’re both innovative, and have gone through some high level certification with the Canadian Soccer Association.”

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Thompson and Murray will be responsible for coach development and support, player and team management, and player development and progression.

Dalrymple talked about the importance of setting the club’s coaches up for success.

“We want to support them better than we have in the past,” he said, “just being present with them on the field, supporting them away from the field, giving them curriculum, giving them ideas, and helping them with their personal certification journeys.”

Thompson has more than 13 years of coaching youth in the region, and is a CSA National B licensed coach, who has coached in the BC Soccer Premier League with Mountain FC.

He will be responsible for players and teams ages 11 and up, and said retention is going to be a key focus moving forward.

“I want to see more players stay involved with the program,” he said.

“If you look at the program for kids under age 11, the program is very big, but as they get older, some of the players start to leave.

“I want to try and get more players to continue right through to U18, and stay with the sport for a long period of time.”

Murray started his soccer journey on Vancouver Island, and got to play in England for a few years. He is also a CSA National B licensed coach, and was the former technical director of Campbell River SA, as well as a coach in the BCSPL with Mountain FC.

He said he would love to grow the club to the point some high performance teams can be built, but wants the sport to remain accessible for all.

“We want to cater to 10-year-olds who are just starting, or a 10-year-old who’s played for five years and wants high performance training,” he said. “Anyone in the community who wants to play.”

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