Rique looks to promising future for Knights soccer

When the Farmington High School boys’ soccer season started this year, people may have noticed a new face on the sideline.

With a wealth of experience as a player and a coach, Addae Rique has settled into his new position and is ready to begin a new era for both boys’ and girls’ soccer in Farmington.

“I have reached a spot in my career where I wanted to be associated with a team that I could continue to build on,” Rique said. “It’s a great opportunity for me.”

Rique has an impressive career as a player. He played professionally for the St. Louis Steamers and in the Trinidad and Tobago Pro League, and was a stand-out college player – first with Missouri Baptist and then Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Rique does not bring up his playing days to his players, but prefers to concentrate on their development.

“Coaching for me is totally different than my playing days,” Rique said. “I usually don’t say anything about playing soccer unless one of my players asks me personally. You can be a great player, but that doesn’t always translate to a good coach. I want be a good coach.”

According to a Rique, the most important thing he can do as a coach is develop the younger players and teach them the right way to play soccer – starting with the middle school to high school.

“I want to get out there with the coaches from the area,” Rique said. “I want the coaches and the players to understand what we want and form a good relationship with them.”

With a team consisting of or mostly sophomores and juniors, Rique is excited about working with such a young team.

“We are starting four juniors, three sophomores and one freshman,” Rique said. “I really think the future for a program is really good. We had 41 players came out for the team and I kept all of them. I am open to see anyone and give them a chance.”

One of the biggest adjustment Rique had to make as a player and as a coach is the approach to the game in the United States as compared to Rique experience growing up in Trinidad and Tobago.

“Soccer is very different in other parts of the world,” Rique said. “It is like a pasttime to everyone. We just went out and played all the time. You learned the game without being taught, so the feel of the game is different.”

According to Rique, to become a better player and a better coach, one must be a student of the game and must constantly be learning. When he became a coach he had to learn how to get his players to understand his methods and how to motivate his players. 

“I still want to be as student of the game,” Rique said. “I want to take any license to further my education and keep learning the game, even as a coach.”

It is Rique’s tenacity to the game that his players and those around him pick up on. To Rique, the sport is more than just a game…it is a chance to learn as well.

“Picking up Addae was such a major coup for Farmington,” Principal Dr. Nathan Hostetler said. “He has so much experience and talent to share with his players. He also has this quiet intensity that the students here react so well to. His players are playing with so much heart.”

When Rique is not coaching or busying himself with the continuous demand of being a head coach for both boys’ and girls’ soccer, he is working as the home school liaison and assisting the social workers in the district. In addition, he also tends to any attendance issue the district may have.

The Knights, who are 2 – 2 in regular season play, will meet De Smet Jesuit High School at 5 p.m. tonight at Haile Memorial Stadium.

“You can be a great player, but that doesn’t always translate to a good coach. I want be a good coach,” soccer coach Addae Rique

Craig Vaughn is a reporter with the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-756-8927 or at