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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS High School Student Called A 'Man For All Seasons'
Huntsville AL Times 19Apr00 S2
By Mike Easterling: Times Sports Staff
HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA -- LDS High School student Ryan Davies says his
days are "full and productive." Others might say he's busy. Davies,
who is a junior at Bob Jones High School participates in six
different sports at school, while managing to keep a 3.5 GPA.
"It's difficult trying to play four or five sports, especially with
the overlapping of seasons,'' said Bobby Jackson, the athletic
director at Bob Jones. "The time spent at practice and keeping grades
up, that's tough. You're going to have to invest a lot of time, and I
would imagine have some late nights. So far, Ryan's done a good job
of it. He gives it everything he's got."
Ryan's mother, Natalie Davies, says she doesn't know where he gets
all the energy to do so much, "I don't know,'' she said, "but he's
always got plenty to spare."
Ryan's schedule starts with seminary at the LDS Chapel on Slaughter
Road, where he goes after rising at 5 a.m. He then goes to school,
attends practice for one sport or another or plays a game in a sport,
works on his homework before going to be at 11 or 11:30 p.m. "I'm
usually exhausted when I go to bed,'' he said. Then I get up and just
start over."
Ryan credits his coaches for letting him play so many sports --
football, swimming, track, wrestling, cross country, soccer and
weight lifting are all on his schedule. Ryan qualified for state as a
cross country runner, and for the state swim meet as a member of the
freestyle and medley relay teams. He went to the state wrestling
tournament, finishing sixth in the 130 pound division. He ran a 4:45
mile in track, and has run the two-mile, but says he doesn't do well
in that event.
And this spring the soccer team has reached the state playoffs with
Ryan as a starting midfielder. The team is ranked eighth in the
state, "We've done really well,'' Davies said. "I think we have a
chance at getting to state, maybe winning state."
But the sport that worried his mother the most was football. "I had
always wanted to play since I was real young,'' said the Utah-born
Davies. "When I was teeny I said I was going to kick for Brigham
Young." And it was as a kicker that he managed to talk his mother
into letting him try out. But he soon moved up and now plays wide
receiver and cornerback and starts on special teams.
So does all this athletic involvement get in the way of his grades?
"Not really," says Ryan. "That's mom territory. She keeps me in line."
She may have to continue doing that for a while. Ryan is the oldest
of four children. His younger brother, Josh, is a freshman at Bob
Jones. He already plays all the same sports that Ryan does except for
track.
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