Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Ward
Hi Sydney, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I moved from Toronto, Canada to Memphis, Tennessee in 2021 to attend the University of Memphis to study health science and be a new Tigerette Feature Twirler for the University. Since then I have thrived in the University and City community and have had the opportunity to represent Memphis well across the country & world with baton twirling. As an active member in the sorority Alpha Delta Pi I have had the privilege of serving this past year as Chapter President. This past year I also took home the title of Miss Germantown Volunteer. I later went on to share my philanthropic efforts through the city throughout my reign and travelled to Jackson, TN this past July to compete in the Miss Tennessee Volunteer Scholarship Pageant. I was lucky enough to place in the Top 10 and leave with several scholarships to help fund my college education. I also travelled to Helsingborg, Sweden this summer to compete in the IBTF World Baton Twirling Championships where I represented my home country and came home with the World Silver Medal in Rhythmic Twirl! This was such a surreal moment when all my hard work paid off. My last accomplishment of the summer was travelling to The University of Notre Dame where I competed in the NBTA National Baton Twirling Championships. I was able to represent the Unviersity of Memphis in several of the National Collegiate divisions. After competing against 50+ girls from Universities across the country I brought the first ever collegiate baton twirling title home to the University of Memphis. I won the title of College Miss Majorette of America! I was incredibly surprised by this and felt on cloud nine. I never could have imagined this dream of mine coming true & I am more than honored to bring the title back to Memphis and represent the University so well. It was a perfect way to top off my summer & I cannot wait to represent this community well throughout the year during my reign.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have definetely been obstacles and challenges throughout the years and even during this year of training. Training out of COVID has always been a challenge to find motivation & keep pushing to the next season. Also training at the Unviersity of Memphis has not been easy. Balancing a busy schedule of working, full time classes, sorority duties, and feature twirler responsibilites can be difficult to juggle & make it all work. Also, the while I am proud to be at the Univeristy of Memphis the staff does not allow us to train anywhere on campus which makes our training for National & World championships incredibly challenging and unconventional. Learning to navigate training on my own and find facilities or areas where I could train successfully has been a challenge for years. It certainly has not been smooth sailing the whole way but it was worth it 100%.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I think my strengths are in mulitple batons. I love to twirl 1,2,3 batons and I love to show those skills off both at competitions & on the field. I also believe performance has become a great strength of mine throughout my years at the University of Memphis performing at football games & projecting to the entire audience. It is something that has drastically improved in the past few years & has helped me acheive more of my competitie titles & goals with my improved skills.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
The biggest piece of advice I have is enjoy the ride & never dream too little. It is easy to get so caught up in the hard work & the training that you forget to enjoy it as well. You only get to do this for a short period in your life and soaking up every second will make the titles, experiences, and memories so much better. I also say to never dream too little because you are capable of such much more than you think. You may think a goal or dream is way too far for you to reach but it’s actually right around the corner. You can truly acheive anything you want if you have dedication, hard work, and patience.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sydney.ward
