Extra Blog: Syd Supple’s One Main Goal Left to Achieve

Sydney Supple is one of the top prospects in the 2019 class and has dominated individually and as part of the Beverly Bandits organization where she won a PGF National Championship in 2016. Syd was the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year in 2017 as she led her Oshkosh North High team to the state playoffs for the second year in a row with her pitching prowess and her strong bat, but it’s fiery passion and great work ethic that garnered her tons of top college interest before she committed to Northwestern in the eighth grade.

Extra Inning Softball is excited to have Syd sharing her experiences with us as she progresses through high school and gets ready to enter the Big Ten… but first, she has some other major goals to accomplish!

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As I am about to commence my junior season, it is crazy to think I am over halfway through my high school career!

I have spent time reflecting on it over the Summer and into the Fall, and every night about what I have accomplished in that time and comparing it to what my goals were walking in as a Freshman for my four-year career.

In some ways those goals were met and in others they haven’t been yet, but in doing so I discovered my ultimate goal.

I asked myself:

• Have I put Oshkosh North on the map? Yes.
• Did I help win our first ever conference championship? Yes.
• Have I won every home game for our fans? Yes.
• Did I help our team make it back to state after a 38 year drought? Yes, I have in back-to-back years.
• Was I the Wisconsin Softball Gatorade Player of the Year? Yes, and the first person from Oshkosh to do so.
• Did I win state? No, not yet.
• But the most important question ended up being have I given enough back to the community that built me?

And that question has turned into a promise I have made to myself as the goal for my remaining two seasons at Oshkosh North.

You can win every game, you can shatter every record, you can show up and play every day, in front of little girls, who cheer your name and want to grow up to be just like you, but sometimes that isn’t enough.

For me I want to inspire every girl that comes to our games, so they know they can dream big and accomplish anything they set their mind to.

More importantly I want to give them the foundation and the field to do it on. Because I want those same girls to not only look up to me, but I want them to beat me. I want them to shatter my records like I did the ones before.

I want to leave a legacy, and a message of more than just what the game has to offer. In knowing you can grow up anywhere—even in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—and accomplish anything you set your mind to!

By being named Wisconsin Softball Gatorade Player of the Year I received a $1,000 grant as part of Gatorade’s Play it Forward to give to any youth organization of my choice. Without any hesitation I gave the money to our Oshkosh FastClub Community Program, which is where my dreams started.

That experience provided me with some of my closest friendships, greatest memories, and built my love for the game. The one thing it did not give me or any of my teammates was a current up-to-date field to play on, which I can attest to from stepping foot on, and getting dirty in, every patch of dirt we have in this city.

In speaking with the Parks Department of our city, I plan on using the money I was granted along with other grants to put together a premier softball complex for Oshkosh.

In feeling so passionate to this project, and remembering my goal and promise to myself, I have decided to start a campaign to raise money called, “Sydney’s Strikeout for Stadium” where people can donate a certain amount for each strikeout I throw this season for a flat fee. I hope to raise enough money to break ground on the complex this Summer, and have it finished this Fall.

This would meet my ultimate goal in my last season to help develop a field that will groom the future dreamers and winners that will go through the city long after me.

With the launch of this campaign I was nominated for probably the greatest award (in my eyes) I have ever been nominated for: the I Am Sports Award, which is given to an athlete in Wisconsin who gives back to their community while inspiring and helping the youth.

You can vote on it at the I Am Sport contest page or learn more about my strikeout campaign at ThatsMySpinOnIt.com.

My challenge to any player reading this today is that no matter where you are in your four-year career, take time before this season to realize what you truly want to accomplish.

Keep your goals relevant to your team and yourself this season, but also have one that will continue to live on long after your cleats no longer touch the dirt in your hometown!

— Sydney Supple