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Rebounding from adversity

Nature Coast senior transfer Rachel Ryman battles through loss of her parents for a college career and chance to make her grandmother even more proud.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published January 23, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - Rachel Ryman seems terribly shy, maybe even a tad aloof, when you meet her the first couple of times.

It is hard to know what's going on in her head, especially when she is spitting blood in a garbage can every 20 seconds right before a basketball game.

Then you learn that the 6-foot center/forward just had her wisdom teeth pulled and probably should be at home resting her swollen jaw, except she wants to play. Ryman needs to support her team.

"She's incredibly loyal," Nature Coast coach Jason Montgomery said, "to people she cares about."

Sometimes Ryman lets go of her attachments, such as teammates and friends at Central, where she went for three years before transferring to Nature Coast her senior year.

She remains good friends with Bears players Gina DiBona and Alex Ruoff, and Ryman even made up with former teammate Danielle Maraquin, whom she fought with all summer over something silly.

"Boys," Ryman said.

She quickly fit in at Nature Coast, a second-year school with a budding basketball program. She became known for her fun-loving nature and started bringing her two pet sugar gliders (tiny possum-like animals) to home games.

"I don't miss Central," Ryman said. "I don't want to go back. The teachers are nice here, the school is nice and I have a lot of friends here."

Later this year, she might say goodbye to all of it. Montgomery is helping her find a junior college in Tennessee where Ryman can play, and he already knows of one coach who will happily accept her.

Ryman never has been to Tennessee but shouldn't have trouble adjusting to new surroundings. She might be soft-spoken and even timid-looking on first impression, but she's a lot tougher than some might think.

Ryman has no memories of her mother, Kendra Lynn, who was killed in a car crash three months after Ryman was born.

She does remember her father, Richard, who was driving on U.S. 19 in June of 1995 when he lost control of his car and swerved back and forth to regain control. His vehicle flipped twice, and he wasn't wearing his seat belt. He died on the scene.

Ryman was close to her eighth birthday when it happened. She was vacationing in New York, visiting relatives, and heard the news at her aunt's house after she returned.

At the time, Ryman was living with her paternal grandmother, Mary, who raised her from the time Ryman's mother died.

"Dad couldn't raise me and my brother and sister by himself, so he let Grandma take care of me," Ryman said.

Ryman's older siblings, including half-brother Scottie, who was not blood-related to her father; were scattered among various relatives when they were growing up but lived close to one another. Ryman's aunt, Kaurice Siggins, lives right next to the Hernando Beach house in which Ryman's grandmother resides, and Ryman's father lived nearby before he died.

Ryman is close with her 19-year-old brother, Matthew, whom she thinks looks like a male version of herself and "is an entrepreneur like me," she said. "He likes to try different things."

She is close with her 21-year-old sister, Siobhan, who used to work at a Hess station before becoming a stay-at-home mom.

Most of Ryman's favorite childhood memories involve Matthew and mud.

"We were a bunch of rednecks," Ryman said. "We were always getting into things and driving my grandmother crazy."

They used to dig holes in their grandmother's 21/2 acres of property and drive tractors over the holes, bouncing and laughing. They graduated to go-carts and other vehicles, and always were "slinging mud all over the place."

Ryman has other memories, but one distinctly stands out when she thinks of her father.

"He was so much fun, always picking me up," she said, touching her upper lip and nose as if she suddenly felt something there.

"He had this moustache that was so long," Ryman said. "He would wrinkle it on my nose and tickle it, make it twitch."

Ryman smiled, then forgot about it, moving on to the next topic of conversation: Her future.

Montgomery used to watch Ryman on the court when the Sharks played the Bears last season.

Her size created quite a presence, and the former college coach could tell Ryman had good instincts.

"She was our main concern when we played them," Montgomery said. "We always thought, "If they ever put her on the block, we're going to be in trouble.' "

The Bears never did, though, and Ryman never learned to play as a true post player. When she transferred to Nature Coast, Montgomery was determined to help her fully utilize her physical strength and long arms.

Ryman's statistics have steadily improved this season, and she is averaging eight points and six rebounds. Montgomery thinks her natural skills and work ethic are enough to get her a college scholarship, even if it's all the way out in Tennessee.

Ryman has only seen Tennessee through the car window on the way to New York. She's excited about the possibility to play in college - something her siblings never have done and something that would make her grandmother proud.

Nursing sounds like a good career, Ryman said, but she also would love to design a computer program. She's got time to decide, or maybe she will end up doing it all.

Ryman is not scared to be away from her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins, and she's not scared of going to a strange place with strange people in an unfamiliar setting.

In fact, there aren't too many things that scare Ryman. There's one: Reckless drivers and the dangers of being on the road.

"I'm always wearing my seat belt, and if someone gets in my car or I get in someone else's car, I make them wear their seat belts, too," she said. "You never know what's going to happen."

Ryman has grown up so much this year, Montgomery said, and college will be perfect for her.

"My only regret with her is that I had her for only one year instead of two," Montgomery said.

But her best years are yet to come, he said. "I think getting away is going to be good for her."

[Last modified January 23, 2005, 00:13:14]