Kamehameha grad thrives in Navy’s ‘Brotherhood’

ANNAPOLIS, MD » They call it The Brotherhood and it’s not just because the Navy football team has five sets of them.

All of the Midshipmen have a bond before they play a down or even practice together.

Plebe summer is no vacation. If your skin is thin, it gets tough fast or you’re gone.

Kamehameha product Wave Ryder, now a senior safety on the football team that plays host to Hawaii on Saturday, learned to deal with it quickly, on Induction Day three years ago. Ryder’s name is so cool it was an answer on "Jeopardy." But it was a burden on his first day at "The Yard." Ryder became the perfect target for cadre trainers eliminating individuality and beginning to build a strong class of midshipmen.

"They had about five guys waiting for me, saying, "Oh you’re Wave Ryder. I got chewed out the first five minutes of indoctrination," he said. "It was a great shock, but I knew it was just a game so I tried to keep my cool and go along with the game. You learn to handle it and take it with a grain of salt."

Ryder said initiation rites that may go on for freshman football players at other schools do not here.

"We don’t really haze them because we all got through plebe summer. It kind of builds camaraderie, a foundation together that builds trust," he said. "But like any locker room, there might be pranks that are all in good fun unless it gets out of line. You have to draw a line between what’s good for the team. Conducive and not detrimental."

At most schools, football is work for the players. Here it is respite.

"I wouldn’t say it’s like recreation, but (practice) is a highlight of the day," Ryder said. "It’s the balance between football and school. You have to put hard work into both. We preach being the most disciplined and hard working despite our size.

"It is a heavy load — you learn to cope with it, but I wouldn’t say it’s a disadvantage. Just a bigger plate for us to handle and we seem to manage fine."

The idea of everyone being in it together helped Ryder deal with being dropped from the starting lineup earlier this season. He didn’t sulk and continued to work hard, and returned to the first 11 last week against Notre Dame because of a head injury to starting safety Chris Ferguson. Ryder, who contributed six tackles, practiced with the first team early this week.

He started six games and was in on 53 tackles last year and has 26 in 2013.

Wave Ryder could have ended up at UH, perhaps the only college more appropriate for someone of his name.

"I was being recruited by Hawaii and Utah State and Navy," he said. "As far as offers it was Utah State and Navy and I was being recruited by UH as a preferred walk-on. I decided to come here after the official visit."

Two years later, his actual brother, Blaze Ryder, also from Kamehameha, joined The Brotherhood and is now the backup center.

"It made it a lot more attractive that my brother was already here and he talked about the opportunities and the brotherhood aspect of the Navy," Blaze said. "It’s rare and unique."

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Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.