Junior Sydney Ryan is all too familiar with the issue of juggling school, social life, and her sport, which most student-athletes struggle with daily. However, her time spent on the field racing to score the ball is a feeling of accomplishment that makes it all worth it to her in the end. 

Soccer has found itself intertwined in Sydney’s daily life, but she greatly welcomes it with a smile spelled across her face. 

“It used to be just for fun, like a fun activity to do, but now, soccer is me and I don’t know what else I’d do,” Sydney said. “I come home from school, I go play soccer. I go to school, I leave for the weekend to play soccer. It’s my family and my team. It means a lot to me”.

Soccer has been a stepping stone for Sydney and has seemed to always be there for her when she needed it the most. However, her love of soccer seemed to have been in previous generations before her, causing her to be exposed to it from a very young age and her love and admiration for the sport have only continued to blossom from her childhood up until now. 

“I started playing when I was really little. My mom had always played soccer so it wasn’t really a choice when I was little but I got really good at it so I wanted to keep doing it.” 

Memories are not the only thing soccer has led to Sydney’s life. Friendships that she has made along the way have proven time after time again to be beneficial, and even some of her earliest memories. 

“I remember I was on a junior purple cheetah team with [junior] Gigi Sinicrope for a year when I was super little,” Sydney said, “and I remember scoring a goal and it was really fun”.

The praise and admiration that Sydney feels on the field glistens through her and feeds her competitive nature when it comes to the game. 

“The feeling of accomplishment when you get praise for doing something good or when your teammates are cheering you on just that sense of accomplishment from doing what you love,” Sydney said. “My coaches have pushed me throughout the years and each coach pushes me a little bit further year after year.” 

Although overall positive memories regarding her love for the sport, Sydney’s competitive nature and strong personality can sometimes overflow onto the field, causing some mishaps to happen to result in lots of color cards thrown.

“Last year I think I got a total of 17 yellow cards throughout the season,” Sydney said, “so it was kind of fun to yell at a bunch of different people.”

The fiery personality Sydney has brought onto the team and field has proven to be favorable to her teammates and keeps a positive attitude every day. Showing up to practice with a smile on her face, regardless of the juggling and sacrifice she makes being a high school student as well, Sydney hopes to continue to enjoy herself with the sport with a possible future ahead in her long-time soccer career. 

“I’m not sure if I want to go to college for soccer yet,” Sydney said. “It’s all kind of up in the air, but I just want to have fun for as long as I can, and whatever happens, happens.”