Stu­dent Ath­lete of the Week: Ryan Lutz

Hello, Bea­con read­ers! Af­ter an ex­tended hia­tus, the Stu­dent Ath­lete of the Week sec­tion is back! We’ll be high­light­ing a cer­tain ath­lete each week, rec­og­niz­ing their ac­co­lades or what they bring to their team.

Ryan Lutz, ju­nior guard for the men’s bas­ket­ball team, is from the Michi­ana area, hail­ing from Granger, Ind. He has­n’t been on the Bethel scene for very long; he’s a trans­fer stu­dent from Holy Cross Col­lege. He re­cently scored his 1,000th point of his col­le­giate ca­reer in the Pi­lots’ game against East-West Uni­ver­sity. He scored 979 of those points in his two years at Holy Cross.

Q: What gets you pumped up before a game starts?

Lutz: "The game of bas­ket­ball gets me ex­cited. Most of the time be­fore a game I have to calm my­self down, so I lis­ten to some sooth­ing mu­sic or else I’ll be all jit­tery and fired up."

Q: Who is your role model in bas­ket­ball?

Lutz: "I like watch­ing Steph Curry play now, but grow­ing up I al­ways watched Magic John­son and Michael Jor­dan doc­u­men­taries and I still watch those now. I love watch­ing Magic John­son play."

Q: How did it feel to score your 1,000^th point? Lutz: "I’ve never been big into individual athletics, so I had no idea. It’s really cool to look back on it, but for right now I’m more excited that we’re 6-0 than scoring a thousand points." Q: Where did you learn to love the game of basketball? Lutz: "It probably started when I was growing up. My dad and I would watch Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan documentaries. Then, I would start shooting the ball and I just loved hearing the swish." Q: When do you feel most comfortable on the court? Lutz: "I probably feel most comfortable after hitting a few shots because I like seeing the ball go through the rim. I usually play better when my shots are falling. Just getting out on the court and playing with the guys, my teammates, my brothers, that’s where I’m most comfortable." Q: Why do you love the game of basketball? Lutz: "I love it because sometimes I think about it and realize I’m playing the game that I watched growing up. I watched all those guys play growing up and now I’m actually doing it. When I sit back and think about that, it’s exciting for me." That’s it for this week’s Student Athlete of the Week. Congrats again to Lutz on scoring his 1,000^th point, and keep checking back for more looks into the life of Bethel’s student athletes!