Dodsland Girl Sydney Joyce Pursues Volleyball and AG Management in Olds
With students and teachers heading back to the classroom, for some, this marks a whole new chapter in their life–leaving home to follow their passions and pursue a degree.
We chatted with local Dodsland girl Sydney Joyce, about her move to Olds, where she will play as an outside hitter on the Broncos Volleyball team, while also studying her first year of agriculture management.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Sydney Joyce and I will be going into my first year of agriculture management at Olds College, while also playing on the Broncos Women’s volleyball team. This past June I graduated from North West Central School in Plenty. I am from Dodsland, Saskatchewan and grew up on a grain farm. Growing up in a farming family and a small-town, such as, Dodsland, is super important to me and is something that I will forever be thankful to have been raised where I was and proud to call Dodsland my home. They have both taught me so many life lessons all of which will help me in my next chapter of life.
Why Olds?
I chose Olds for a few reasons. First being, Olds College is a well-known school for their agriculture programs. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always had a strong passion for agriculture. When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to be able to go ride around on the buddy seat with my dad or Grampa in the field during harvest or seeding. As I got older, I started taking on more responsibilities on the farm which helped grow my passion and expand my knowledge within the agriculture sector. Second being, the strong community that the Broncos Athletics have regarding their sports teams; it is essentially one big family. When I first started talking to the head coach of the Broncos Volleyball Team, I felt we had an instant connection and I really liked her coaching philosophy. After our first couple of emails/video calls, I knew that playing for the Broncos was something that I wanted to do. I have been on campus for a few days now and even though I have only been here for a short amount of time, it is evident that the volleyball team is all super close, which makes me excited for the season to start! Go Broncos!
Have you always had a passion for volleyball?
In Plenty, we were able to start playing volleyball in grade six. So I would say my passion started there. It wasn’t until grade eight when I started playing club volleyball. I was fortunate enough to play club volleyball at home for two seasons with my best friends, which is something I will forever be grateful for because we made so many memories together over the years. During the summer between grade nine and grade ten, I played with Team Sask, where I travelled with the team to the Canada Cup in Richmond, BC. From there, I signed to play with Sask Stealth, an amateur club volleyball program in Saskatchewan. While playing for Sask Stealth, I grew so much as an athlete and as a person; which is one of the reasons I am where I am today. All of these experiences have helped grow my passion for the game.
If you weren’t playing this sport, what other one would it be?
If I wasn’t playing volleyball, I would probably play hockey! Growing up in small-town Saskatchewan, hockey is the thing to do in the winter. I started playing hockey when I was four years old and played until I made the switch to volleyball. When I was younger, my siblings and the neighbourhood kids were always together at the rink, shooting around pucks, or playing shiny with other kids. We would head to the rink after lunch on either Saturday or Sunday and usually, be there all day until one of our parents came looking for us because it was supper time! So I would have to say, hockey would be the other sport I would play.
What are your future plans with the sport?
I hope to be able to play as long as I can and be able to continue to get stronger as a player both mentally and physically. In the future, I hope to be able to help coach the next generations of young females. I was really lucky to have had many great coaches over the years both on the club and school teams and I would like to be able to give back to the communities that I call home.
Do you have a most memorable moment when playing or before a game?
The most memorable moment I have while playing volleyball is probably when my club team, Sask Stealth, went to Vegas twice to play in the Las Vegas Classic. It was such a cool experience to be able to play teams from the states and just travel with a team like that. Another most memorable moment I have is our home school tournaments in Plenty. Honestly, school tournaments were my favourite because of the amount of support we would get from the school and the communities of Plenty and Dodsland. Seeing the school gym packed with people was the best!!
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