The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1508023
60 THE WOLVERINE ❱ OCTOBER 2023 ❱ WHERE ARE THEY NOW? "It was all about relationships, and I've played the game now at a higher level and I've played it for money," Mertz said. "The thing that I will always miss about amateur athletics, collegiate athletics specifically, is just those re- lationships that you create with your teammates that I don't think can really be fully recreated at the next level. "You're living the college lifestyle with these guys in some ways and you have fun together. They're your best friends, and they become more like brothers to you. I remember just placing an emphasis on putting the team first. "I wanted to love each and every one of the guys on that roster. I really cre- ated some very deep and lasting rela- tionships through that. That was a big part of what brought our team together and what enabled us to have success on the field." Mertz was selected 76th overall in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft by the Colorado Rapids, but he was released by the team in the preseason. He found a home and his first professional deal with the Riv- erhounds in 2019 and made 40 appear- ances with 11 goals over two seasons. After a two-year stint with Atlanta United 2, he returned to Pittsburgh in 2022. But he wasn't sure a pro career would be in the cards. "I was sitting there two months after I left school, I thought I might be done playing professional soccer and I had just started," Mertz said. "It was a really tough time. I remember driving home back to Pittsburgh from Charlotte and wondering if that was it. Maybe I'd go back to school and just finish out the semester, because I was doing that re- motely at the time. I got one last shot in Pittsburgh with the Riverhounds, and I'd been training with them leading into my senior season at Michigan. So, I was familiar with the club, and fortunately, it went well." Mertz is now a treasurer on the USL Players Association Board of Directors, where he has helped enhance the work- ing conditions for the league since the COVID-19 pandemic. "We all owe the players association quite a bit for the fact that we even played a season," Mertz said. "In 2021, we were able to pass the CBA for the USL Championship, which we had been working on pre-COVID, but kind of got put on pause during that. That really improved the working conditions for players in this league to a great degree and really raised the floor and a lot of standards." None of what he has accomplished would have been possible without what he learned at Michigan, and there are lessons to be applied to this day from his time in Ann Arbor. "You're capable of more than you might think you are in terms of achieve- ment, but also bandwidth and the things that you say yes to," Mertz said. "I felt like during my time at Michi- gan, I wasn't just a student-athlete. I made it a goal to connect with and help as many people on campus as I could. And it took me to some corners of the Michigan experience that maybe a lot of people don't get as student-athletes. "I've made creative relationships with some of these people. It was taxing at times, but the four years was really a blur. I don't even remember all the time exactly how I managed to do it. But I think it was just because I was so pas- sionate about being there, and being a part of that school and that commu- nity of people was able to just carry me through." ❑ Mertz was a two-time captain at Michigan and helped the program win its first Big Ten regular- season title in 2017. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY ❱ The Robbie Mertz File Michigan Accomplishments: Two-time team captain (2017-18) ... Two-time United Soc- cer Coaches All-North Region (2018: Second Team; 2017: Third Team) ... Two-time All-Big Ten (2018: First Team; 2017: Second Team) ... All-Big Ten Tournament Team (2018) ... NSCA All-American (2018). Professional Accomplishments: Chicago FC United (2016) ... Burlingame Dragons (2017) ... Pittsburgh Riverhounds (2019-20, 2022-pres- ent) ... Atlanta United 2 (2021-22). Favorite Michigan Memory: "Winning the Big Ten championship in 2017. With what we had been through as a program and what we went through, to have it all come full circle like that is incredible." Favorite Spot on Campus: "Mr. Spots is amazing. I have some great memories there with some close friends." Family: Rob and Kelly Mertz (parents), Leah and Landy Mertz (sisters), Ryan (brother), Kate (wife).