Inspiring Beyond Sports

During the 2005 men’s soccer season, Robbie Rogers made a tremendous impact on the field, playing an integral role as a freshman on the team’s run to being crowned National Champions. But his legacy once he left Maryland extends much further. As the first openly gay male athlete in a major North American professional sport, he has inspired countless others and provided an example to young members of the LGBTQ+ community that they have a place in sports.

This past week, from Oct. 10-13, the Maryland campus celebrated LGBTQ+ History Month with various events. Rogers, who became a big-time television and film producer after his professional soccer career ended, was back in College Park to lead the charge in several of the events, marking the first time he’s spent extended time around campus and around the soccer program since he left College Park after that 2005 season. 

“Being back kind of makes me feel like a kid again,” Rogers said. “But then watching these guys train makes me feel old and unathletic. It’s a weird mixture of emotions, but it’s all great.”

“I left when I was pretty young and I was going through so many different things as a person, so to be back now that I’m older, married, and have a family, it’s just very cool,” he added. “It’s really nice to be welcomed this way. It’s incredible to see how much this place has grown.”

For the Maryland men’s soccer program, it was equally as great to have Rogers back on campus and interacting with the team.

“It was absolutely wonderful to have Robbie back on campus to visit with the team, celebrate his success and support his preview of (his new limited series on Showtime) Fellow Travelers,” head coach Sasho Cirovski said. “Robbie’s one of the best players to put on a Maryland uniform. In one short year, he won a National Championship and embedded himself into the Maryland family.”

Rogers’ week on campus began with a return to Ludwig Field where he was there to watch the Terps’ thrilling 6-4 victory over Villanova. 

“I was excited just to stand back on Ludwig Field,” the former ACC All-Freshman honoree said. “It brought back all those same feelings for me.”

The game was also the program’s annual Pride game and Rogers was honored on the field pregame, standing proudly next to Cirovski. 

“It was a great moment for me,” Cirovski said of Rogers’ pregame honor. “It was a statement of our program’s support for Robbie and our support for inclusivity not only in our program but on this campus. I was very proud to stand there with him and recognize him for being the game-changer he is.”

For Rogers, coming back and being part of a Pride Night, something that didn’t exist when he was playing in college, was a powerful experience to be a part of.

“Pride Nights are just a night to make sure people know they’re embraced and accepted into the organization,” Rogers said. “For young people that don’t feel like they have a place in sports, it shows that they do and that they’re important members of the community. I love that there’s more and more Pride Nights in all of sports.”

The following day Rogers participated in a meet & greet open to all Maryland students and staff in Gossett Hall. He then wrapped up his festivities on Thursday, first stopping by a men’s soccer training session and addressing the team followed by an advanced screening of the pilot of his new show Travelers that was open to the general community. 

Rogers’ visit to practice and subsequent talk with the team left a lasting impression on both the guys and Rogers himself. 

“It was an honor to have someone with his experience and someone who has gone through so many challenges talk with us,” said senior captain Alex Nitzl. “It was very cool to see how he overcame his adversity and to see how much love he has for the Maryland Terrapins. It was very inspiring to hear him talk about himself and the program.” 

“You could see how tuned in our guys were and I think what they saw was that beyond the soccer experience and the education you get here, the discipline you learn being an athlete transfers to so many other areas outside of your major,” Cirovski added. “Even though Robbie was here for only one year, he was able to apply those things.”

Rogers went into his talk with the time unsure of what exactly he wanted to say to the guys. He did know above all, however, that he wanted to express how special it is to be part of the Maryland men’s soccer program.

“For the players here and the players hoping to come here, I hope they just realize that to be a Maryland Terrapin and a soccer player here is also to be part of this family and it’s an honor to be part of this group,” Rogers said. 

Rogers never dreamed of becoming an inspiration for LGBTQ+ youth, but that’s what he’s become—and it’s something he now wholeheartedly embraces and loves. Being able to share his story and his experiences with people of all different backgrounds around Maryland’s campus this past week was something he considered a genuine privilege. 

“When I came out, I did it for myself,” Rogers said. “I did it to free myself from all this internal stuff I had inside of me. But to be able to now talk about it, especially with young people, I just feel super privileged.

“It’s one thing to be a soccer player and to inspire people as a soccer player. But to be able to inspire people when it extends beyond that, to be able to help people as just young men and women, I feel so lucky. It’s not just a sports thing for me.”