After The Whistle: Ryland Weaver
SALISBURY, Md.- Meet Hood College Commit Ryland Weaver, a Delmarva native who’s played baseball for years as a catcher.
Most athletes have gone the traditional route of making their sports dreams come true. Weaver didn’t to high school, he was home-schooled and has been taking classes at Wor-Wic Community College since he was 14.
He was part of the Wicomico Blue Sox team and almost won the 2023 Maryland State Legion Tournament, but his story starts when he first picked up a baseball in the Fruitland Little League when he was a young kid.
“I played there from the time I was about nine or ten through when I was 13 or 14 in the intermediate and junior divisions. Fruitland Little League really showed me what baseball can be,” Weaver says.
After that, he played for the Eastern Shore Force.
“I’ve had a lot of great coaches, including Bill Atkinson. He’s helped me out a lot, and playing for Force has really helped me refine my skills, and I’ve been able to get a lot better, and it’s carried me to where I’m at today,” Weaver says.
He’ll be a catcher at the college level, a position which he says fits his personality.
“I’m able to be a leader on the field, a coach on the field, and really facilitate the game. I’m involved in every play. So, outfielders, I love my outfielders, but they get a ball maybe once every inning. I’m catching every pitch. I’m calling every pitch. I’m working with my pitchers constantly to get the other team out,” he says.
Ryland is a card-carrying member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma through his mom. So representation matters for him and he draws inspiration from other successful athletes who share his Native ancestry.
“Being Native American, I don’t see many Native Americans playing baseball and playing sports as a whole. So I really draw back to Jim Thorpe, And then Johnny Bench, who was also a catcher, I really draw after him because he’s the only Choctaw catcher that I know of who ever played in the major leagues, he says.”
His ultimate goal is to go on to get a doctorate in sociology with an emphasis on Native American studies. So he can promote the Native Americans as a whole and tell their stories he says he wants to tell that story from his own experiences.
