Sydney likes to shoot

​By Dave Merchant dmerchant9701@yahoo.com
 
Sydney Pnacek is a Sophomore Dexter shooting guard who can hoop it up. She loves her sport and her school.
 
Accomplishment in sports: “5th grade AAU National Championship 2nd Place and 6th grade AAU National Championship 1st Place, 3x AAU State Champions, 3x USSSA State Champion, USSSA State Championship MVP, 4x Spartan Showcase Champions, and SEC All-Conference Honorable Mention last school season,” Sydney said.
 
In school she has NDignite Connection Program Completed (Online Program through Notre Dame), and was awarded a Scholar Athlete Award last season. World Literature & Composition is her favorite class and her favorite subject is Math. Mr. Heuser (her English teacher) is her favorite teacher.
 
Sydney had this to say about her favorite coach: “This has to be my current AAU coach, Coach Rob Ruhstorfer,” she said. “The number of opportunities he has helped me create for myself is unbelievable and there’s nothing that could show how incredibly appreciative I am of him and his passion for helping every kid that steps into his program be successful.“
 
“I plan to contribute my basketball career in college, I have a number of offers but am not committed to any specific school,” she said.
 
“My ultimate goal is simply to be successful in my life and success for me in this regard is based off of happiness and feeling that I’m in the right place and doing the right things for the right reasons,” she said.
 
Her hobbies include animals. She has two dogs, one of which is about 2 years old so she loves playing with her. She also has a pool in her backyard so, as you can imagine, that plays a big role in her summers and is a lot of fun to go in with friends over. 
 
“I hang out with lots of different people from my school that kind of forms one large friend group,” she said. “Like I said, my pool is a fun place to go with friends in the summer.“
 
“I have two older brothers. My oldest brother, Keaton, recently graduated from Grand Valley and my other brother, Bobby, is currently a senior in high school,” she said. “They both have played basketball through high school, making the sport a big part of my family, and Bobby is known to my entire high school as “Bobby Buckets”. He also played football this year after not playing since 8th grade, and he helped create history with this year’s football team for Dexter. My mom, Kelly, is the senior Vice President of sales and financing for ABM Technical Solutions, a facility services company, and my dad, Kevin, is the Director of Admissions at Baker College. Both my parents have been nothing but supportive of everything my brothers and I do and I could never thank them enough for what they’ve done for me and the doors they have helped me open for myself.”
 
Her advice to athletes who are younger is great: “I would say to younger students just focus on what’s important to you and recognize what is holding you back and be brave enough and strong enough to eliminate or minimize those barriers,” she said. “And if you want something, whether that be in school or in sports, know the work it is going to take to achieve it and be willing to put in that work, or else you will not be too flattered when you don’t get the results you wanted. To better your odds, surround yourself with people who support your goals and will be there to hold you accountable.”
 

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