Muscular Dystrophy Doesn't Slow Granby's Dirienzo

The words cut through the boys lacrosse practice field last year at .

“Dirienzo, you’re dogging it!” the coach exclaimed at the player moving sluggishly. “Dirienzo, you’re dogging it!”

It’s a phrase that condemns players to being described as lazy and detached.

It wasn’t until after the practice that the coach was informed by one of Ryan Dirienzo’s teammates that Dirienzo has a form of muscular dystrophy, which affects his ability to run and jump.

Several things can be gleaned from the anecdote.

First, muscular dystrophy may be in Dirienzo’s DNA, but lack of hustle certainly isn’t. Second, Dirienzo has a preternatural gift of a lack of self pity.

When the coach later apologized to Dirienzo, understandably stating that he was unaware of Dirienzo’s condition, Dirienzo said something surprising. He told the coach not to apologize.

“I just feel like just because I have a disability, I don’t think that anybody should treat me any different,” Dirienzo said in an interview Tuesday. “I’m like any person on the field. I should be treated just like any other player.”

It’s that attitude that has carried Dirienzo, a senior, to be a starting offensive and defensive lineman on the Bears’ football team this season. Not bad for a kid who was told not to play regular sports by a doctor when he was diagnosed at 4-years-old with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, which, according to MDA.org, is a neurological disorder that causes damage to the peripheral nerves.

“Everybody has a problem and everybody can overcome that and do whatever they want,” said Dirienzo, who went to physical therapy until the start of high school and now does extra stretches to manage the disease. “My doctor told me I wouldn’t be able to play regular sports. He told me I could only play special sports. I said, ‘I’m going to play regular sports like everybody else.’”

That doggedness and determination has carried Dirienzo from his freshman year on the Granby Memorial football team to his final game, which will take place at Ahrens Park at 10 a.m. against Canton on Thanksgiving Day.

Not that Paul Schmutz, head coach of the Bears football team, knew what he had in Dirienzo when he started the program four years ago.

“Ryan, when he first came out, I said, ‘Boy, I don’t know what we’re going to do with him,’” said Schmutz, who added that what Dirienzo lacked in physical skill, he made up with in sheer determination. “He has worked. … He’s probably the hardest working kid on the team. He works a tremendous amount and he’s always practicing. He’s always correcting himself."

“He’s a great individual and he’s a great person. Ryan is going to go a long way in this world," he said. "He’s focused on what he does. He focused on football, he made it a priority in his life and he sees the results. He’s one of the best linemen in the league.”

And you would never be able to tell he has muscular dystrophy.

“He’s never used it as an excuse,” said Schmutz.

That’s what led Schmutz to call on Dirienzo to be one of his captains this season, which has seen the team get its first-ever victory on Oct. 1 over Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby courtesy of a last-minute goal-line stand by a defense led by Dirienzo.

“It’s a true honor,” Dirienzo said of being named captain. “From the first year on the team, I saw all these big guys, and I was just like, ‘Wow, that might be me some day.’ This team means everything to me. I love every single person on this team. The coaches are excellent.”

Those aren’t empty words spoken by a teenager looking for the right thing to say to an adult. His teammates also swear by him.

“He’s the best captain we could ask for; he’s the best leader out there,” co-captain and friend Stephen Blake said. “As much as coach Schmutz, [Ryan] started the program with us. He’s been starting since freshman year.

“I don’t even think it’s the muscular dystrophy [as the reason that kids look up to him]. It’s just the way he goes out every day, a lot of the kids don’t realize that he has that problem. He doesn’t announce it as much. But he sets a standard so high, that you have to follow in his footsteps. You want to be just as good as him.”

Dirienzo said that he plans on attending Springfield College and, not surprisingly, plans on helping others by studying to become a physical therapist himself.

Before then, there is a little matter of playing Canton tomorrow at Ahrens Park, where Dirienzo, along with co-captains Blake, junior Ben Marlor and senior Zach Balboni, will lead the team onto the field for the last time.

“He’s probably the best player I’ve ever had,” said Schmutz, who will step down as head coach after the game Thursday. “And I’ve had a lot of great players.”