Soccer heartbreak leads Carmel's Ryan back to the diamond
Teenagers and tough choices seem to go hand and hand.
Study or party?
Pop or beer?
Sex or abstinence?
Baseball or soccer?
Wait a second. Baseball or soccer?
Believe it or not, it fits with the rest.
Choosing between sports might not seem as life altering as some of the other choices teenagers face. But it can be.
In this age of exorbitant college tuition prices, where athletic scholarship money is more coveted than ever, teenage athletes often find themselves in an impossible quandary as they try to decide what might be best for their present versus their future.
Just ask Jimmy Ryan. The Carmel senior and outfielder for the baseball team says that trying to decide last year whether or not he should give up his beloved baseball to concentrate on soccer, his best sport, was one of the most difficult periods of his life.
“It was a nightmare,” Ryan said without hesitation.
But just as many teenage athletes do, Ryan faced his nightmare head on, with the hopes of ultimately fulfilling a dream, specifically his dream to play sports in college.
His journey from making the tough choice, to realizing his dream, to seeing his dream shatter, to circling back to a sport he never thought he'd play again (baseball) is a fascinating one.
“It's pretty funny how it all worked out,” Ryan said. “I'm happy with where I'm at now. But it is kind of bitter and sweet all at the same time.”
Ryan, who plays center field for the Corsairs, is among the team's leaders at the plate with a robust .440 batting average and 2 home runs. Not bad for a kid who hadn't played any baseball for a year prior to the start of this season.
Ryan had been busy with soccer.
A three-year varsity forward for the Corsairs, he finished his career last fall by scoring a team-best 15 goals on the season and earning a spot on the all-sectional team for the second straight year.
To hone his skills out of season, Ryan had always played a lot of club soccer.
Except for in the spring.
That's when he played baseball.
“I love playing baseball,” Ryan said. “It's even kind of a family thing. My whole family loves baseball. It's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.”
Then again, so has soccer.
And last year as a junior, Ryan felt like he was at a crossroads with soccer. He knew that he was good enough at it to play in college. And he knew that he loved soccer enough to want to pursue that opportunity.
But he also knew that if he wanted to give himself the very best shot of getting recruited by the very best schools, he needed to play more soccer. Specifically more club soccer.
The problem is, the ultra competitive kind of club soccer that attracts the most attention from college recruiters is played in the spring.
At the same time as baseball.
Ryan had played underlevel baseball at Carmel as a freshman and sophomore and was one of the better players on his teams, shining in the outfield and at the plate. He and the coaches anticipated that he would play a big role on the varsity last year as a junior.
“My mom and dad and I sat down last year and we tried to work and re-work the schedules to see if there was any way I could play both club soccer and baseball for Carmel at the same time,” Ryan said. “It just wasn't going to work.
“I was back and forth, back and forth for awhile. Soccer or baseball, soccer or baseball? I started crying when I realized I would have to give up baseball. My mom did, too. It was very emotional. It was a hard time.”
But, as Ryan saw it, it was a necessary hardship.
“As much as I love playing baseball, I love playing soccer just as much and I knew that soccer comes more naturally and that my best chance of playing sports in college was probably with soccer,” Ryan said. “As hard as it was going to be for me to stop playing baseball, I knew that I had to give myself that chance with soccer.
“What if I had the chance to play soccer in college but I didn't do anything about it? I didn't want to have that regret.”
Now, all that Ryan regrets is that he was the victim of horrible circumstance.
Initially, Ryan's plan to concentrate on soccer worked out great.
He traveled with his club team all over the country last spring — to Massachusetts, California and many states in between — and got plenty of looks on the recruiting trail.
He was offered a spot on the soccer team at the University of Dayton.
“I was so excited,” said Ryan, who turned down a Division I offer from Bucknell. “I had my heart set on Dayton.”
But then Ryan had his heart broken.
Days before Signing Day this past February, he received an e-mail from the coaches at Dayton telling him that they weren't going to be able to bring in as many freshmen as they had originally intended and that his spot was being cut.
“I was in shock,” Ryan said. “I couldn't believe it. And because it happened so late, there was nothing else out there. All the other schools already had their recruits set. I was left out to dry.
“I was like, ‘Where am I going to go from here?'”
Ryan found himself being pulled to the only other place that gave him as much comfort as the soccer field.
The baseball diamond, of course.
Had Ryan signed with Dayton, he probably would have spent this spring working on soccer. But with soccer out of the picture …
“I started thinking a lot about baseball,” Ryan said. “But I also wondered if it was too late for me to do anything with baseball. The season was going to start in a month.”
But one day, Ryan invited one of his friends over to hit in the batting cage that is set up in his basement. When his friend saw the way Ryan was hitting the ball, he encouraged Ryan to try out for the baseball team.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I should give it a try and have some fun,'” Ryan said. “I really missed playing baseball last year, and I missed being with my friends and teammates. I was nervous about being rusty and I didn't know if I would be prepared. But I wanted to at least try.
“I feel so blessed and lucky because this season has ended up being so much better than I could have ever expected.”
Ryan was hoping for some spot at-bats. Maybe a start in the outfield every so often.
But he has been a starter almost the entire season and is batting in the No. 2 slot because he has been so clutch at the plate.
“We always knew Jimmy was a really good player,” Carmel coach Joe May said. “But being away for a year, we didn't know quite what to expect from him. It has been such a pleasant surprise what he has brought to the table this year.
“The most important thing is that I think he's having a lot of fun with his teammates. I think he's real happy he came back to baseball.”
The icing on the cake for Ryan is that his return has allowed him to do something he's never been able to do before: play on the same team as his younger brother, Matt.
Matt Ryan, a sophomore, was brought up to the varsity a few weeks ago. He now plays third base for the Corsairs.
“When Jimmy decided to play baseball again, I was the happiest person,” Matt said. “And that was before we were even on the same team. I just knew how much he loved playing baseball, so it was good to see him playing again.
“Now, us getting to play together on the same team for the first time makes it even more exciting.”
The Ryan brothers are cherishing their days together. They don't have many remaining. And not just on the baseball field.
Jimmy will be going to college next fall at Miami of Ohio.
“I'm just going to be a student there,” he said. “After the whole experience with Dayton, I think I'm just done (with sports). I'm just going to go to school for school.”
Then again …
“But I have heard that Miami of Ohio has a really good club soccer program,” Ryan added. “So maybe I'll try to do that.”
Or how about some intramural baseball?
Decisions, decisions.
Maybe this time, Ryan will be able to do both.
pbabcock@dailyherald.com