By: Sydney Wallace

Illustrated By: Sydney Wallace

Sydney Wallace was born in Philadelphia, Pennsyl-

vania. She was raised into a family of athletes who

all were very good at whatever sport they played.

One day, at the age of four, Sydney too dreamed of

being good at whatever she decided to play.

Sydney would always go to the neighborhood

park, and watch her cousins play basketball.

She loved the sound of the ball bouncing on the

pavement, and the sound the net made when

somebody shot the ball through perfectly.

Sydney was amazed at how good her cousins

were. They could shoot really well, and jump

really high. It excited her, and she decided that

she could play with them. However, her cous-

ins told Sydney that she was too young and far

too small to play out there with a bunch of

boys. On the other hand, basketball was the

sport that she was going to play, and she began

practicing on her own.

A few years later, when Sydney was seven, she began

playing on summer and recreation teams. She was

very dominant, and her skill-level was ahead of every-

one else’s. However, she had to overcome an obstacle

that would hold her back. Her summer league coach

benched Sydney and other really good players even

though they all were very talented. Sydney’s father

told her that she should not remain on the same

team or she would not get any better. Sydney cried

because she didn’t want to leave her team, but at the

end she made the right decision and she was on her

way to bigger and better things.

From there on, Sydney once again started to ad-

vance at higher levels. She started on her high

school varsity team as a freshman! Sydney also

broke many records, such as most career points

ever at the school, and career high point of 41

points in one game! Sydney led her team to the re-

gion championship and also to the school’s first

ever playoffs. She did so well during her high

school career that they retired her jersey number

in her honor. Her high school team began to be-

come family to her, and they helped her to improve

in many ways including improving as a person.

They always spent time with each other on and off

the court.

One thing that Sydney learned was that family

influences everything. Sydney started off play-

ing basketball, because her family influenced

her. During her years of growing up, her family

led her to make the right decisions and become

the outstanding player and person she has be-

come up until today. Her family always had her

back, and never let her down. Her blood family

not only made her a great player, but her high

school family did as well. Family and loyalty are

everything! Now Sydney is pursuing her career

at Georgia Tech on a full ride scholarship!