Her breath is rushed as she dribbles the ball across the court. She takes a step back and prepares to shoot. She bends her knees at a 90-degree angle, slightly jumps and shoots. The timer shows eight seconds to spare, everyone is up and nervous. She makes a bank shot, the timer goes off and she realizes her team has won.

Senior power forward Sydnee Savage signed to Mid-America Christian University to play basketball and major in criminal justice. Her hard work interested the school, although she didn’t know what the school had to offer at first. She did her research and ended up giving the school a chance.

“For the past four years, I’ve been working really, really hard,” Savage said. “This is the first school that has shown interest in me, so what made it special was they kept in contact with me and showed they really wanted me there. I recently just found out about them and got to know them over the summer. Once I got to know them better, did my research, I kind of grew interest in them.”

Savage began playing basketball when she was in the third grade. Although it isn’t her first choice of sport, she’s always had a fondness toward basketball.

“Volleyball is my true love, however, there’s always been a strong passion with basketball so I found ways to break through it and love it,” Savage said. “Other players try to focus on talent, but I focus on areas coaches need in their schools [like] communication.”

She doesn’t mind being the one to be doing the dirty work in the court. The relationship she has with her team and coach is important. She shows how much she cares by checking up on everyone. 

“It’s very rare to have kids that want to get on the ground and hustle and don’t mind getting banged around,” girls’ basketball coach Sally Allsbrook said. “I really enjoy the conversations we have off the court because she always goes the extra mile just to ask how everyone is. That relationship is important and she does such a good job checking in on everybody; she always asks how I’m doing which is not normal for kids to ask that question. It’s mostly adults who ask that question and is always refreshing how much she cares about individuals.”

Savage is living her fantasy of going to school for basketball to later become a professional player. Savage’s friend, senior Jasmine Robinson, shared the same dream, but she ended up having an injury, so now she shows support toward Savage.

“I’m very proud of her because it used to be both of our dreams to go to college for basketball but I got hurt so I [can’t] play anymore,” Robinson said. “She’s living the dream for both of us.”

Even though she went through tough times of wanting to give up, she was always devoted to her sports dream. Her motivation kept her in focus so she wouldn’t give up; she wants her brother to know no matter what people say or do, he will get through it.

“I was at a point in my life where I wanted to quit; I didn’t think I could do it, I wanted to be completely done, I wanted to focus on volleyball but with the help of my coaches, friends and family [they] talked me into staying,” Savage said. “[My] younger brother [motivates me]. I want him to understand no matter how hard it gets, no matter how tough it gets you can overcome diversity.”