Few are as competitive as Ryan Haney.
His son Owen might have him beat.
Ryan Haney is the boys soccer coach at Archbishop Ryan High School. His son Owen is a senior on the squad. When they get together, the competitive juices always get flowing.
And we’re not just talking about big PCL soccer games, either.
“I think we’re a lot alike, we both hate losing,” Owen said of his dad, who also was a star player at Ryan before graduating in 1997. “We’re very competitive in the house especially. I’ll compete with him in anything.
“At home, we play Uno with me and my brother. It gets really competitive sometimes. My brother Jackson, he’s 7. Usually my sister Kristen gets involved, and we team up on Jackson. Usually we win. But we never let our dad win. That’s something we all agree can’t happen.”
Owen might be the reason his dad is drawing four, but when it comes to soccer, he does an Uno reverse, because when the Raiders win, it’s usually the younger Haney leading the way.
Like his dad, Owen is a great leader, and Archbishop Ryan soccer is very important to him. Because of his love for the team and his will to win, Haney is willing to do whatever it takes and play any position to put Ryan on the path to success.
“I played leftback my freshman and sophomore year, switched to centermid last year,” Haney said. “I bounce around. I started at left back, switched to centermid, it’s been the same. I started at left back, I’ll get switched sometimes. I don’t really care, I’ll play anywhere. Whatever we need is what I want to do.”
Haney loves soccer, but he’s grown up knowing how important Archbishop Ryan soccer is.
His dad has been involved with the school for his entire life. He not only played there, he won six championships over 11 years when he was the girls coach, and since he took over the boys program, his best achievement will be forever etched into his son’s memory.
“I think my best memory is when they won the PCL chip, I think it was 2021, and they won the game off PKs,” Owen recalled. “I was on the sidelines. I just remember running over to my dad and giving him a hug. I didn’t know how important it was, but I knew it was important.”
Now he knows full well.
He knows how important a Catholic League championship is because he knows how hard it is to win one. It’s why he and his teammates have worked so hard since getting to Ryan.
But Owen is mature enough to realize that no matter how many wins or even championships he has, the best part about playing soccer at Ryan is family.
Not just his dad. Not just his brothers on the team. But he’s also lucky enough to play with his cousin Luke Marchesano.
“It’s awesome,” Haney said. “No better feeling than when your cousin plays you a ball and you always have someone to go to after a game. There’s a family member playing with you, not too many kids get to experience that. Your Nana shows up, she’s cheering you both on. You can only experience something like that playing with your family.”
Then there’s playing for dad.
At times, it can be tough.
But Owen also looks at it as an advantage. Few kids can talk plays with the coach the night before a big game, and the older Haney takes his boy’s thoughts seriously when they’re trying to come up with a gameplan.
“We do talk soccer a lot,” Owen said. “After every game, we break it down, what went wrong, what went right. If there’s a position change, we’ll talk about it. He’ll ask my opinion. He’ll go to the other coaches and see what they think.
“I love it. I think it’s a moment we share, I think it helps him with coaching, it lets him know how the team feels, it helps the team grow in a certain way. And then I can let the team know. I love how it’s worked out.”
Dad isn’t the only one who has his back.
On top of his younger siblings, his older sister Elizabeth always looks out for her brother. There are others, too.
“My mom plays a big role, she goes to all of my games,” Owen said. “She never complains about having to drive far. She always has my back if I’m feeling down. She’s there to help me. She’s not big in a soccer sense, but she knows when I’m not playing my best and she’ll talk about it and always help me. She does a lot for me.”
Next year, he’ll likely go on to play college soccer, and his family will be just as important, even if they aren’t there. He’s unsure where he’d like to go, but he has a great plan in place.
“Next year, my goal is to play soccer,” Owen said. “I would probably study business. I don’t know what I’d do, but I was thinking maybe join the carpentry union, then start my own business. I like building things.”
And a side gig?
“I could coach,” he said. “I think I would like coaching a younger team, just teaching kids how to play, and get them ready. But I would love to coach high school, too. Maybe I’ll come back to Ryan and coach here.”
After all, he knows how much good a coach can do.
Just look how he turned out.
“I’m most proud of the man I’ve become at Ryan,” Owen said. “Freshman year, I didn’t know many people, got used to people. At the end of senior year, I’m a captain, showing younger kids the ways and helping them for their following years at Ryan.
“I’m proud how we stuck together. It’s not how we wanted the season to go, but our heads are high, we have nothing to lose going into the next few games. We’re going (into the playoffs) with fight. We are looking forward to playing. We just have to come out and play the way we can.” ••
