Seaford teen Ryan Kind shines on the sidelines with his camera

Growing up in the shadow of an older sibling can be a burden.

For 13-year-old Ryan Kind, that’s doubly so.

Billy Kind, 20, the oldest of the three Kind brothers, played varsity football and baseball at Seaford High School. He now pitches for the baseball team at Adelphi University in Garden City.

Matthew Kind, 18, the middle brother, is a senior at Seaford High School, where he played as a defensive and offensive lineman when the football team won the 2025 Nassau County championship. Matthew also plays varsity baseball and he is this year’s valedictorian.

But for the youngest Kind, the playing field is not level. Ryan has epilepsy, which can cause seizures, as well as a condition called Chiari malformation, which makes it dangerous for Ryan to be struck in the head. These medical challenges make it too risky for him to play a contact sport. Or any sport that puts too much stress on his body.

So how is he supposed to get out from under those shadows?

Since he can’t use a ball, he uses a camera.

LOVING THE SIDELINES

With the blessing of team coaches, the eighth grade middle schooler runs on the sidelines, following the plays along with the professional photographers, usually dressed in a green Seaford Vikings sweatshirt with his name on the back and often carrying a camera with a lens half as long as Ryan is tall. “I love being on the sidelines,” he said. “There’s so much energy, especially with cheerleaders, the band, everyone.”

He estimates he takes about 1,000 digital photos each game and shares about 30 of the best ones on his Instagram page, @RyanKindMedia . He also puts some in a folder he shares with team members. And he does it for free. “I want people to have memories for a lifetime,” he said.

Over the past several years he’s shot at Seaford High School’s baseball, softball, football, basketball, lacrosse, wrestling, field hockey, cheerleading and soccer competitions. He’s also shot sports for students with special needs. And he’s branched out beyond Seaford to shoot at other high schools, at tournaments and at Billy’s college games. “There’s some busy weeks when I have multiple games in a day,” Ryan said.

STARTED SHOOTING AT 10

Ryan started taking photographs at his brothers’ sports games at age 10. And he’s good at it, parents, coaches and professional photographers said. “I’m always scrolling his latest and greatest shots,” said Kevin Witt, athletic director for Seaford’s middle and high schools. Witt uses them when he has to put an athletic presentation together or create a program for an away game.

Sometimes he gets a little sheepish when someone asks, “Where did you get that shot?” he said. “I say . . . ‘Well . . . the kid . . .’ ”

Seaford families love Ryan’s work so much that when he couldn’t take photos at night games because he didn’t have a lens that would allow him to shoot in the dark, the Seaford High community chipped in hundreds of dollars to gift him one. “Everybody jumped on board,” saidTricia Drew, 50, whose son J.D. is a member of the team and, like other players, often shares photos Ryan took on his personal Instagram page.

There’s the shot of football player Brian Falk, 17, with a grimace visible through his football helmet face mask during a Nassau County semifinals game against Lynbrook High School. And the shot of players dumping an ice bucket on football coach Mike McHugh when the team won the county championship in November against Plainedge High School. And the sequence of shots he got of his brother Matthew during the one time during his football career that he intercepted a ball and scored a touchdown, an unusual feat for a defensive lineman.

“He captures the emotions of a game, the heartbreaking moments and the moments when we’re winning and everyone’s cheering,” said Falk, a senior who will be playing lacrosse at United States Army West Point next year. Falk reposts Ryan’s photos on his Instagram account.

The players’ parents appreciate the photos as well. “Ryan has given me, through his work, lifetime memories of moments Brian’s mother and I cherish,” said Brian’s father, also named Brian Falk, 53. “We’re lucky to have him around for sure.”

Billy Kind said his little brother has truly found his niche.

“He couldn’t always be on the field as a player, but he found a way to make a name for himself in sports,” he said.

‘A NATURAL EYE’

Ryan admits that when he started, “I did not know what I was doing.” But at his first game he saw that he had captured a shot where a ball was about to hit the bat, and he got the player midswing. He was hooked.

Since then, a number of adult photographers have taken him under their wings, Ryan said, teaching him how to get the best shots. For basketball, he said he learned to shoot vertically so players’ heads aren’t chopped off. For football, he’s tackled how to get in front of the action. And his older brothers taught him how to share his work on social media.

“I’m very, very impressed,” Strutt said of Ryan’s photographs. “I think he’s got a natural eye. He knows where to be positioned and how plays are run.”

MAKING AN IMPACT

Now Ryan said people will ask him, “Ryan, can we get some pictures?” Or “Ryan, can you take a picture of us?”

“We’ll be walking across the field and people will yell, ‘Ryan Kind Media! Ryan Kind Media!’ ” Matthew said. “I think it makes him feel special knowing he’s wanted at the field, and he can make an impact.”

Ryan has even moved beyond sports, taking photos at the middle and high school end-of-the-year field days, and he is working for his school’s yearbook staff shooting middle school clubs and activities.

Life is much smoother now than when he was a toddler. Ryan’s health challenges surfaced when, at 18 months, he started having seizures during which his teeth clenched and his eyes rolled back. He also was diagnosed with Chiari malformation, a condition that causes the skull to compress the brain. Surgery relieved that issue, and Ryan’s epilepsy is under control, but it still has to be monitored, said his father, Bill Kind, 48, a middle school math teacher.

THIS ONE’S FOR YOU

Ryan’s mother, Caroline, 48, a sixth grade English teacher, said she worried that Ryan’s restrictions might affect his mental health. “As a middle school teacher, I see how important it is to be involved. It’s so important that he has this identity, otherwise I don’t know what would have happened to him emotionally,” she said.

Ryan said he’s hoping to be a role model for other kids with epilepsy to get involved in their community in their own ways. “I’m really proud of how far I’ve come with this. It might not be my future profession when I get older, but I do want to continue it for the rest of my life,” he said.

As for living under others’ shadows? “I felt like that at the beginning,” Ryan said, as he saw his brothers earn accolades and be celebrated. “They were in the newspaper all the time. I thought, ‘Where’s me?’ ”

Well, Ryan, this one’s for you.