Ryenn Schutz following in mom’s footsteps with U of R Cougars

Reporter Britton Gray highlights remarkable Saskatchewan athletes in this regular feature.

In 2001, Becky Poley-Schutz won a national championship with the University of Regina Cougars women’s basketball team.

Now her daughter, Ryenn Schutz, is on the team chasing her own championship.

“It’s pretty cool to watch her,” says Poley-Schutz. “She wanted to go to a program where she could contribute and she just really liked the feel of the team and she loves the girls and we just wanted her to have a good experience.

“Scott (Schutz, Ryenn’s dad) and I just wanted her to go somewhere she would stay for five years, build the program and have a great experience.”

While Ryenn was born in Regina, her family moved to Kelowna, B.C., when she was around seven years old. The return to the Queen City has been a positive one thus far for Schutz.

“It’s been going really well. The team is awesome, (I) love the girls (and) the coaches are awesome. It’s great,” says the Cougars’ rookie forward.

She even got the opportunity to wear No. 7 with the Cougars — the same number her mom wore.

“I’m wearing her number right now so that makes me really happy and proud. I got really lucky this year – a rookie with a number she wanted. I’m just really happy I could do that,” Schutz says.

“I get emotional when I see her in that jersey. She is wearing my number too so that adds another level of it. I have to keep those under control when I am watching her play but it’s pretty special to see her out there wearing that uniform” Poley-Schutz adds.

When trying to determine where Schutz would play her university basketball, Poley-Schutz didn’t want to influence her daughter’s decision in any way.

“She was getting a lot of interest and a lot of coaches reaching out to her and so she narrowed it down to a few and did a couple visits,” Poley-Schutz says.

“She had been to Regina a couple of times and got to know the girls a little bit. When they would come here, we would go watch them play at UBCO. I tried to stay neutral because there is that connection there and she had been to the (Regina) gym a few times and felt that environment that I felt back in my day.

“It’s a Saskatchewan thing; the fans in Saskatchewan are just different. By the end of it, I was trying to stay neutral and I didn’t want to push my thoughts and feelings onto her, but she said to me that she felt Regina felt like a family and that’s where she wanted to play so that was pretty cool.”

Schutz says the environment and culture at Regina was a big part of why she chose to play for the Cougars.

“Everyone is so close. There’s no drama ever. They are all really great girls,” Schutz says.

However, one of the biggest reasons she chose to come to Regina was Cougars head coach Dave Taylor, who coached her mom for two years at Sheldon-Williams Collegiate before spending five seasons with the Cougars as the team’s assistant coach.

“Dave was my coach forever,” Poley-Schutz says. “I know him and I trust him and he knows me. He got to know Ry really well. He started talking to her all the way back in Grade 9/10 so she developed a relationship with him and that comfort level with him.

“I know Dave from way back and so it’s pretty cool that now she is playing for him and I am in the stands watching so it’s a real full-circle moment.”

“There were other opportunities but I think Dave was a big reason,” Schutz adds. “I’ve known Dave for a long time because he used to coach my mom so it’s a cool full-circle moment. I think I was drawn to the team culture here. It just stood out over every other program I went to visit.”

The move to Regina also adds another chapter to her family’s impact on Regina sports.

Not only was Scott Schutz the volleyball coach at the U of R from 2001 to ’07, but her grandfather, Bob Poley, played centre for the Regina Rams junior team and the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“It was normal to me because his first year with the Riders (1978) was the year I was born,” Poley-Schutz says. “I grew up not knowing anything different. I just thought it was normal Dad ate that much food and everyone knew him when we went to the mall.

“It was just sort of part of life but I loved it. I loved watching him and I think I learned a lot from that experience too. When he went to practice or went to lift weights, that was his job so I always took that when it came to sports.

“That’s sort of the connection we have with sports. It’s hard to explain, but just watching him play until I was about 15 years old — and I grew up in that stadium and with those fans — there’s nothing like Saskatchewan fans and everyone knows that. Having that connection and just watching him when he won the Grew Cup in ’89, it’s just awesome with some amazing memories. It was pretty fun growing up like that.”

That work ethic appears to have rubbed off on Ryenn Schutz, who has already become an impact player with the Cougars. She’s averaging 8.8 points per game and leads the team with 10.5 rebounds per game.

“I like to transition and I like to run,” she says. “My team is really good at that and they get me the ball. Rebound – that’s my job.”

That was never more evident in a Dec. 2 game against the Brandon Bobcats in which the 6-foot-1 Schutz grabbed 18 rebounds, a Cougars rookie record.

“After the game, someone came up to me and said, ‘Hey, look at this!’ I didn’t know that that was the record but I’m happy I was able to achieve that,” Schutz says. “It’s really cool. I just go out there and rebound every game. That’s my job so that’s just what I like doing.”

While her parents remain in B.C., they did make the trip to Regina for the Cougars’ home-opening weekend.

“It’s emotional to see her standing up there for the anthem and in her jersey and getting a lot of minutes and contributing to the team. It’s pretty awesome for her dad and I to watch her,” Poley-Schutz says.

Schutz was ecstatic to see both those familiar faces in the crowd.

“It’s just nice looking up and seeing your parents in the stands and after the game, getting to say hi to Mom and Dad. It’s nice to have them here. They tell me they are proud of me and that makes me happy,” Schutz says.

“My mom knows everybody here. She is chatting up everyone in the stands and all of her old teammates were here too. It’s just really cool to be a part of that community.”

As Schutz continues to take some of her first steps in U Sports, her mom is excited to see what path she will forge.

“If that means winning a national championship, that’s amazing. I really, really hope she can be part of that one day and have that feeling because you have that forever,” Poley-Schutz says.

“We just really wanted her to go somewhere where we trusted the coach and we loved the school and the program and the atmosphere and the environment and that she would just have a great experience all around of being a student-athlete.”

Schutz and the Cougars return to action Friday in Winnipeg against the Manitoba Bisons.