School: Neshaminy
Volleyball, Basketball, Softball
Favorite athlete: Peyton Manning
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: “I was in North Carolina for softball nationals, and I hit a game winning home run.”
Most embarrassing thing that has happened while competing in sports: “While playing travel basketball, a girl on the other team and I collided, and she ended up with a broken collar bone.”
Music on iPod: “I have hip-hop and some oldies and Toto.”
Future plans: “Play college basketball and become a teacher – either mathematics or physical education – and eventually become a coach in basketball.”
Words to live by: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.”
One goal before turning 30: “To have a successful college basketball career and to be a good role model to kids, just like mine, Mr. Al Durante…he is very genuine and the most caring person I have ever met.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “Everyone knows that I am very competitive and tough, but my mom says I’m like Baby Huey because I’m soft as a marshmallow inside when I’m not competing.”
Kelsey Ryan is the undisputed go-to player for the Neshaminy basketball team.
But talk to the Redskin junior, and it’s clear she has managed to keep her role in perspective.
“I know I have to do a lot, but my teammates don’t understand how much they help me,” she said. “It’s the best of both worlds – they help me, and I help them, so all together, we’re always communicating and talking, and that helps even more on the court.”
It is Ryan’s willingness to be a team player that has made her such an asset to her squad.
“She’s the focal point of the team as far as opponent’s emphasis, and she’s embraced that challenge,” coach Joanne McVey said. “She’s getting the kids to rally around her and has been extremely helpful to the other post players as well as the other players on the team.
“She’s matured as a person as well as a player. I can’t say enough positive things about her. She’s just a pleasure to be in the gym with.”
Ryan – a three-sport athlete - has been a fixture in the starting lineup since she was a freshman when she played behind senior standouts Stephanie McGinty and Holly Pfieffer.
“That first year, all the attention was given to those two, and Kelsey flew under the radar and had a tremendous year,” McVey said.
Ryan averaged eight points and 7.1 rebounds a game as a freshman.
“Nobody expected those numbers,” McVey said. “She really had an excellent year.”
Talk to Ryan, and she admits it was a bit unnerving to step into an otherwise veteran lineup.
“In the beginning, it was really nerveracking,” she said. “It was like, ‘I’m going to have to live up to their standards, compete at their level.’
“I got to know them, and they helped me out a lot. I really learned a lot from them.”
The following year - with Pfieffer and McGinty gone – a considerable burden was placed on Ryan.
“It was not for lack of effort, but everything changed,” McVey said. “The opponent’s focus changed, the makeup of our team changed – we lost our two strongest players, and she was thrust into a role she probably wasn’t prepared for.”
By her own standards, Ryan calls her sophomore season ‘disappointing.’
“I didn’t have my best year,” she said. “I still tried to do a lot for the team because I knew I was one of the main veterans and knew what to expect when we played other teams.
“It just didn’t really go well. Our team didn’t click as well as the year before. There was a lot of stuff going on.”
Ryan responded to that disappointing season by working harder in the offseason.
“I told her at the end of her sophomore year – it may have been the best thing that ever happened to her because your high school years are a process,” McVey said. “You’re not as good as a freshman as you’re going to be as a senior.
“Sometimes if everything goes smoothly, you don’t become the player you could become. She had some adversity her sophomore year. As a result she worked harder than she normally would have.”
Ryan and the Redskins are reaping the rewards for that hard work. The junior center – a team captain – is averaging 14.5 points and eight rebounds.
“She is a tremendous leader,” McVey said. “She has grown into the role of a mature leader in an understated way.
“She’s not extremely vocal, but she works hard, and the kids look up to her.”
And although she competes in three varsity sports – she also plays volleyball and softball, basketball is her clear favorite with softball not all that far behind.
“I’m more focused on basketball for college,” she said. “Volleyball is something I did to keep myself busy. It was really fun when I started, and I just wanted to stay with it.”
Ryan is also an accomplished softball player and has been a starter for the varsity since she was a freshman. The junior standout, a veteran of the travel ball circuit, plays either shortstop or catcher for the Redskins.
How does she manage to play three sports?
“With a lot of help from my parents,” she said of Neal and Lynn Ryan. “My parents are constantly dragging me everywhere because I don’t have my license yet, so half the credit goes to them.
“My dad helps me stay on course – taking me to practice, making sure I get home in time to do my homework and making sure I have enough sleep so I’m good the next day.”
Her father has coached her in soccer, softball and basketball.
“Everything I learned is probably from him,” she said.
An excellent student in the classroom, Ryan has her sights set on one day becoming a teacher – either physical education or mathematics.
“I really like to help kids,” she said. “That’s my goal.
“I work at some camps for basketball in the summer. I get along so well with kids, and they get along with me, so I really want to stick with that.”
Talk to McVey, and she’ll undoubtedly give Ryan a ringing endorsement to pursue that career path.
“The kid is a just fabulous kid,” she said.
