LAURINBURG – The coaching carousel keeps spinning at Richmond Senior High School. In just two years, new head coaches have taken the helm of numerous Raider programs including football, soccer, volleyball, basketball and golf. For former Lady Raider Brittany Roberts, the ride has been less like a carousel and more like a roller coaster.
In just five years, Roberts went from high school athlete to college athlete to high school head coach, and this fall, she will take the athletic director role at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW).
The Baltimore, Md., based all-girls charter school houses both a middle school and high school. According to the school’s website, “The BLSYW Way embodies leadership, girl power, college readiness, high expectations and a strong support network. Through academics and social emotional learning, BLSYW students are taught to develop a strong sense of self, sisterhood, compassion, and good decision-making.”
Roberts has some challenges facing her in September when she takes over the A.D. duties at BLSYW. “They need a lot of recreating of their sports programs there,” said Roberts in an ROSports exclusive interview. “In addition to A.D., I will also be the school’s P.E. teacher as well.”
“Also, right now, they do not have soccer. I’m specialized in soccer, so I’m hoping to get an actual soccer program started there,” Roberts continued. “Soccer is really growing. A lot of young kids are getting involved in it. In a lot of foreign countries, soccer is the top playing sport.
“When I spoke to (BLSYW) over the summer about bringing soccer to the school, they seemed very excited.”
This opportunity came about courtesy of Roberts’ involvement with Play on Purpose, an organization designed to develop youth both academically and athletically.
“Play on Purpose is a program for kids who are in sports,” Roberts explained. “We help them outside of the classroom with reading, that way they can learn to read and get the sports aspects out of learning.”
According to Roberts, all of teachers and coaches involved in the Play on Purpose program played sports in college, allowing them to know the importance of finding that balance between education and athletics and how to succeed in both.
Like most RSHS alumni that pursue a career in physical education, Roberts also donned the green and gold during her time at Richmond. “I played soccer at Richmond under Bennie Howard,” Roberts recalled. “He was one of my role models in high school and really helped to get me to where I am now.”
Roberts graduated from Richmond in 2012 and then attended St. Andrews University in Laurinburg on a soccer scholarship. While at St. Andrews, she was a member of the Lady Knights Volleyball team as well.
“It was tough,” Roberts recalled of her chaotic schedule. “Soccer and volleyball shared the same season in college. My coaches had to work together to allow me to play one sport one day and the next sport the next day.”
After two years in Laurinburg, she received the opportunity to play Division I soccer at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She transferred back to the Tarheel State for her senior year, and in 2016, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Exercise and Sports Science.
After graduating, Roberts took a position teaching second graders in Marlboro County, but her plans to continue her education led her away from her first assignment after just one school year.
“When I got the opportunity to start my masters (degree), my advisors at UNC Pembroke told me that it would be a good idea to get a P.E. job so that I could bypass the student teaching element of the masters program,” Roberts explained.
When a Physical Education positon opened up in Cumberland County, Roberts jumped at the opportunity. She simultaneously served as the P.E. teacher for both Walter-Spivey Elementary School in Fayetteville, N.C., and District Seven Elementary School in Wade, N.C., during the 2017-18 school year. She also filled in as head coach for the Lady Tigers soccer team at South View High School.
Roberts has enjoyed every opportunity that has allowed her to teach both information and values to her students.
“Teaching is so rewarding,” Roberts said. “If you stay with it, you’ll always find the rewarding aspects of teaching. Money isn’t everything. My money is the love I receive from those kids.”
It was her mother who instilled in her a passion for teaching. “My biggest mentor was my mom, Betty Roberts,” Roberts shared. “She taught for 35-plus years at Monroe Avenue Elementary School.”
Roberts will now take all that she has learned away from the area that she currently calls home. Her new positon in Baltimore begins in early September where she will begin building other young ladies into leaders.
Roberts wrapped up her interview with a message to the students in Richmond County.
“If you put your mind to it, you can do it,” Roberts said in closing. “It doesn’t matter where you are from, what living conditions you come from, or challenging situations you are put through; you can overcome them. Just keep your head high and look for the stars.”
