Ryle Owens - Young Harris Basketball
“Basketball is all I know. I’ve been playing it all my life. It has taught me to stay humble, trust God, wait my turn and to persevere. The game in itself will teach you life lessons that you can carry through life as a man, just like many other sports.”
“I've had to overcome a lot of obstacles. To be honest, most people would have folded and quit if they had the journey I had. I rode the bench all through high school until my senior year. I had no offers out of high school. I had double knee surgery the day after I graduated high school. I went to a small junior college for three years (redshirted my first year because of the surgery). I didn’t play much in junior college either. From junior college I was offered a full ride scholarship and committed DI to Alabama state university. They decided to take another guy over me and pulled my scholarship late in the game. I ended up staying home for a semester, and had nowhere to go.”
“During this whole time I was praying and grinding and waiting for my opportunity. Young Harris college offered me a full scholarship in the middle of the season to come play immediately. I didn’t have much experience or anything but it was the perfect fit for me and I ended up having a standout career there. Going through all of that and still being able to have the opportunity to pursue your dreams and play in the NBA is a blessing!”
“The basketball world is really small so there are a lot of connections across the world. You meet new people from different backgrounds, different nationalities, different races, etc all the time. You get to learn a lot from different people. My journey as a black athlete has been a blessing, to go through all of that and still continue to exceed expectations is everything. As a black man I had to learn how to move carefully and be smart in order to be successful. There is already a target on our backs and any little thing could magnify simply because of the color of our skin. Learning to live the right way is key.”
“As simple as it sounds, I want everyone to be viewed as equal. I don’t see why it’s so hard for ppl to accept equality, and I don’t understand how it’s so easy for someone to hate another person for their skin color. At the end of the day we may look different on the outside but we all are the same on the inside. We all bleed the same, and we all cry the same. We are all the same race....the human race!”
