When Ryan Young walked through the doors at Bethlehem Catholic as a 6-foot-2 freshman, he was sill trying to figure out his way around his growing body. After growing three inches more his sophomore year, Young admits he was that skinny, tall kid that ran awkwardly.

Eventually though, Young blossomed into a Division-I basketball prospect, an East Penn Conference MVP his senior year and a first team all-stater.

More importantly than anything, Young relished his role as a team captain the past two years, as the Hawks won back-to-back District 11 4A titles and went all the way to the PIAA semifinals this season.

He was the area’s biggest threat on the court, literally, a team leader and undoubtedly this year’s Male Athlete of the Year for Bethlehem Catholic.

The former Hawk is now a member of Northwestern’s men’s program, going through the summer grind as an incoming freshman, trying to find his way through the landscape of Big 10 basketball.

It’s a similar road to what he experienced four years ago, going through the halls of Bethlehem Catholic.

“The biggest difference is that everything is more intense,” said Young of being on campus now. “It’s not a bad thing at all. It just shows you how much harder you have to work to excel at a level like this.”

Under Young’s leadership the last two years, Becahi excelled into one of the best teams in the area, appearing in two EPC finals (winning it this past winter), two D11 4A championships and then that run to the state semis this year against a supremely talented Imhotep squad.

The Hawks would fall in that game 65-60, ending a 28-2 season, one where Young averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds a game, but it showed how close the team was in competing against a nationally ranked opponent.

“We played our hearts out against Imhotep,” he said. “It’s always tough going against a team like that, who play such a tough schedule, but we knew that we could get to that point and play with a team like them. I look back at this season without any regrets on how we played. We gave it our best.”

Now, he’ll have to do that at Northwestern to earn minutes on the floor in a similar setting like when he was a freshman at Becahi.

If experience can make one wise, Young should be fully ready for the next chapter in his life.

“It’s a new school, with new coaches and teammates,” Young said. “Bigger and better competition and it’s a task I look forward to.”

One where he’s mentally and physically ready to take on.