RICHLANDS – Omar Rodriguez Aguirre has heard it “my whole life,” about his size.

The Richlands soccer senior appears to take all that talk in stride away from the pitch. However, on the field, the 17-year-old Rodriguez Aguirre has used those doubts as motivation since he first started playing at a young age.

“I’ve had to go through a good amount of adversity being the smallest guy coming up. I knew my skill was there, but a lot of people didn’t trust me based on my size,” Rodriguez Aguirre said. “I’ve had to work on my skill because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to body kids. As the years went on, I did the extra work to become the player I am now.”

What kind of player is Rodriguez Aguirre? The four-year varsity player and two-year captain is one of the area’s best players.

He was first-team all-area and All-Coastal 5-A/6-A Conference last year after he recorded 12 goals and 19 assists to help the Wildcats go 19-3-2 and win their first league title since 2006.

Rodriguez Aguirre, third-team all-area as a sophomore, is off to a solid start to this season with three goals and three assists for Richlands (2-0-2), which hosts Wallace-Rose Hill on Thursday.

“I met Omar when he was in the eighth grade, and he’s just gotten better every year,” Richlands coach Mike Roed said. “When we first played him in the midfield, a lot of people sat there and said he might be a little too small and too timid for it. But the work he has done has allowed him to run our offense.”

For the record, Rodriguez Aguirre claims he is “a good” 5-foot-7.

He recalled starting his Richlands tenure as a left midfielder but moved to center midfielder last year, a switch he embraced.

“Coach gave me a chance last year and I think I proved people wrong,” Rodriguez Aguirre said. “You look at me and you don’t think I’m going to be that good, but then you see me play and … it’s crazy. I like to think my IQ and my ball playing ability help. I’m really good at picking up the ball and knowing what to do with it.”

“Omar battles,” he said. “He has his head up at all times and he knows exactly what he wants to do with the ball. His vision is unparalleled. He can move the ball and see things because he reads plays very well.”

And Rodriguez Aguirre also sets the tone with his work ethic.

“Being a captain gives me motivation enough,” he said. “Knowing that people will listen to me and look up to me means a lot. These guys respect me, even though I’m not the biggest and I’m not the fastest. It feels great having a team that relies on me and having teammates who I can rely on.”

The midfielder hopes that team chemistry results in another conference title and a deep playoff run this season.

“It’s win or go home now,” Rodriguez Aguirre said. “I have to leave it out on the field every game. The guys are coming together, we are communicating and everyone is doing their part.”

Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.