RANKINGS
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I COMMITTED
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ABOUT
Sydney Supple is a junior pitcher/first baseman for the Northwestern Wildcats and this week the Oshkosh, Wisconsin native wrote a blog on the team’s softball site that we felt so important and powerful, we got the permission of Syd and the school’s Sports Information Department to run it here.
By way of background, Sydney was a three-time Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year honoree (2017-2019), a four-time All-State selection and as a senior in 2019 was named the Extra Inning Softball National Player of the Year after she went 29-0 with a 0.75 with 298 strikeouts to lead Oshkosh North High to a state title. On the club side, Sydney played for the Beverly Bandits and won a PGF 16U National Championship in 2016. She was also a 2019 Extra Elite 100 selection.
Her story was also chosen as one of our Top 15 Stories of 2019 when she spearheaded the building of a softball “Field of Dreams” in Oshkosh doing everything from running lemonade stands to sending out close to 500 letters to local businesses asking for support. By the time the Rainbow Park field was dedicated on October 19, 2019, Syd had worked with the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation to raise over $110,000 to build the field and set aside another $10,000 to cover field maintenance for the future. Click HERE to read the details.
Here is the collegian’s poignant message that we felt important to share with our many readers, especially the athletes who may really need to hear this message…
*****
I want to talk about a topic that recaps what happened over the weekend but not necessarily on the field.
For those of you who keep up with collegiate athletics, devastating news was reported that Stanford student-athlete, Katie Meyer, was found dead on campus by a teammate who went looking for Katie after she missed practice.
Also, click HERE to read former Florida State All-American Jessi Warren’s thoughts on mental health awareness including depression and anxiety.
Heartbreak.
The only word that comes to my mind when hearing about the loss of a fellow student-athlete. I did not know her, no one on our team knew her, but we felt the impact.
Being a college student-athlete is one of the biggest blessings and challenges. A dream that so many kids envision. The opportunity to play on the biggest stage while wearing the uniform of your favorite team in front of family and friends.
People who play at this level will tell you that those aspects are some of the greatest feelings you can ever have.
What is also real, is the stress and pressure. We put our body and heart on the line day in and day out, for others to often criticize. We put a pause on our lives and give up the normal “college experience” to put a sport we love first. Each one of our weeks is built around practices and games. The people we spend the most time with are our teammates and coaches. The game becomes our life because it takes over our life.
The easiest thing to forget is the game is what we DO and not who we ARE.
To be honest, that reminder is why I started writing these recaps. My desire was to show more of who my team was personality-wise than playing abilities. That is what matters most at the end of the day.
My message for today is a request from you:
- If you are one of my teammates, please know I love you for the person you are, not the player.
- If you are a parent of one of my teammates, continue to verbally remind my teammate that you are proud of her no matter what happened at the game or in classes this quarter.
- If you are a fan, please take into account that we and any team you are following are trying our best to make the university and you proud.
For any of you who have supported us through the highs and lows, we see you and appreciate you more than you will ever know. The small gestures, people who have told us good games, or given a high five after we did well and ones we fell short. Unconditional love is the greatest gift you can give athletes.
Sincerely,
Sydney #26