School: Harry S. Truman
Field Hockey, Soccer
Favorite athlete: Mia Hamm
Favorite team: New England Patriots
Favorite memory competing in sports: “During my sophomore season, I scored my first goal. It was the last game of the season, and I scored off of a corner.”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: “When I was a sophomore, we were warming up and talking about what to bring to our field hockey party the next day. I just blurted out, ‘I like cake,’ which was kind of random! I still get made fun of for it every so often.”
Music on iPod: “It’s all over the place. I like almost everything, but rap’s never been my favorite. My favorite to listen to though is pop punk-rockish like Paramore, Hey Monday, and A Day to Remember. I also am a big fan of Disney music like Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato.”
Future plans: “I want to become a biomedical engineer and help cure cancers.”
Words to live by: “Go big or go home.” (You just got to put everything out there.)
One goal before turning 30: “I want to study abroad in London.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I have an obsession with teeth, especially mine. I’ve had braces three times.”
Dawn Martesi doesn’t need a whole lot of words to describe Kierstan Ryan.
“She’s pretty much priceless,” the Harry S. Truman field hockey coach said of her senior captain.
Ryan’s value is not measured by the stats she accumulates but rather what she brought to her team both on and off the field this season.
“She’s very dedicated,” Martesi said. “She wants the same things we want for our program, and she makes sure that she motivates the others. It’s imperative to have someone who is able to be a leader.
“She’s a great disseminator of information. She kept the kids posted about what’s going on and what needs to be done in all facets. Whether it’s preseason, whether it’s pick-up games, whether it’s what uniform to wear tomorrow – she’s good at all of that.”
A three-year varsity starter, Ryan was the cornerstone of her team’s defense at center back.
“She exhibits amazing leadership,” Martesi said. “She’s a great communicator, and she’s very skilled. She has excellent stick skills, game tactics and knowledge of the game.”
Ryan is also a mainstay on Truman’s varsity soccer team in the spring and plays both hockey and soccer year round. The Truman senior still finds time to excel in the classroom. She is ranked first in Truman’s senior class of 330.
“As important as the team is to me, I make sure I always put my schoolwork first,” she said. “I study a lot, and I make sure I have everything done and handed in.
“It’s basically as soon as I get done with practice, I come home and do the schoolwork. During the season, I get six or seven hours of sleep a night, but it’s alright.”
That level of commitment is nothing new to Ryan. It began when she was in elementary school and continued to the present.
“Everything I put myself in, I have always been fully committed to it,” she said. “I’m somewhat of a perfectionist, but I’ve gotten better as I’ve gotten older. I’m not focused so much on getting it perfect but just doing the best I can.”
Martesi laughs when she recalls the sight of Ryan falling asleep with her laptop open while she was studying for a retake of her SATs.
“She got a good score, but to her, it wasn’t good enough,” the Tigers’ coach said. “Kierstan is a very serious student, a very serious student, and she always has been.
“She’s always been a very structured, dedicated and intense student. Intense is the word I’d used to describe her.”
That intensity translated well onto the sporting field for Ryan, who has been an integral part of raising the level of play in a struggling Truman hockey program that several years ago didn’t have enough players to field a jayvee team.
“From what I’d heard, they hadn’t done that well,” Ryan said. “In the past three years, I have seen us grow.
“It wasn’t so much, ‘Let’s have moral victories’ but, instead, to see what we could improve on. Last year we became more competitive. This year we gave teams a hard time. It went from ‘Oh, it’s just Truman’ to ‘Oh, we have to watch out. It’s Truman.’ It’s been fun to see us progress as we work hard and see our skills improve.”
Ryan actually got her start in dancing and took lessons in ballet and tap for seven years. It wasn’t long before she added soccer and basketball to her repertoire and, in middle school, went out for field hockey.
“I couldn’t go out for soccer because I already play CYO for my church, and I wanted to play another sport,” she said. “I wanted to get involved in school, so field hockey was the next choice.
“I talked to girls I went to elementary school with, and they had played field hockey, so I figured it would be a good idea to join it.”
Dance and basketball both fell by the wayside.
“I’m so in love with field hockey and soccer,” Ryan said. “Hockey was another competitive sport, and I thought it was interesting and fun how you had the stick and there was a whole different technique to it, and I just love sports.”
She plays soccer year-round for a Hulmeville travel soccer team. She also plays indoor hockey.
“I just tried to balance it,” Ryan said. “One day I’ll go to soccer and the next day field hockey. I’ll go to soccer practice after field hockey practice during the fall season.
“I just try to keep it all together.”
Not surprisingly, Ryan is respected by her teammates.
“The kids like her,” Martesi said. “She’s a good captain, and for intense as she is on the field, you can joke around and tease her.
“She’s down to earth. I’m often in awe of her. I told her the other day, ‘You’re like the Energizer bunny.’”
A member of Truman’s Varsity Club that recognizes outstanding student-athletes, Ryan has not decided on a college but has zeroed in on a major with plans to pursue a career as a biomedical engineer. She hopes to do cell and tissue research.
“She’s one of those kids that does it all, but she does it all well,” Martesi said. “She’s positive.
“You talk to her, and you don’t get the feeling she’s stressed out from the pressure. It seems like she thrives on it.”
Not only thrives on pressure but excels as well.
