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North Montgomery senior soccer player Sydnee Turner returns from boot camp to lead Charger defense

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Most high school seniors are worried about homecoming, prom, and Friday night bonfires.

But for one North Montgomery senior — life after high school has already started.

Sydnee Turner enlisted in the National Guard last fall and spent her final summer as a kid at boot camp.

“I felt like it was my last summer as a kid, and I kind of threw it away to do that, and I was sad because all my friends were here playing soccer and I wasn’t,” Turner said. “But I tried to put it out of my mind and just focus on myself there. That’s what helped me the most is just maintaining my focus on what I was doing there and it made the time go by so much faster.”

While attending a college fair during her sophomore year, Turner sought out military options, and eventually clicked with the National Guard.

“At first I didn’t know what the National Guard was and I sat down with him (recruiter) and we talked about all the stuff and I realized that it’s a really good way for me to be in the military and also be in school and have a civilian job,” she said.

After a summer away at boot camp, Turner is back at North Montgomery for her senior season in the goal for the Charger girls’ soccer team.

 


Take Away From Boot Camp

While the summer away from the sport she loves and her friends wasn’t ideal, it’s a decision Turner doesn’t regret.

“Basic training was definitely hard, but an experience that I would not change for the world,” she said. “It taught me so much stuff and made me so much more confident. There were lessons in everything I did there.”

And when North Montgomery girls’ soccer coach Julie Hodges learned that Turner would miss summer workouts, she was initially nervous, but overall excited about the opportunity for her three-year starting goalie.

“On the soccer side, I was super excited,” Hodges said. As a goalie, you have to be tough as nails. You’ve got to forget the last goal that went in to make sure you’re prepared for the rest of the game. And so the confidence I felt that she was going to gain by going into boot camp the summer before her senior year, I was so excited that she was going to build so much confidence, because that position has to have confidence. And not only that, but the vocal part of it. Like she mentioned how she can see everything on the field. She’s the eyes of the field, she’s the last one. And to be able to learn that leadership and to learn how to be vocal and kind of command her team from the back is something I was really excited about.”

 

Back On The Field

Waiting her turn as a freshman, Turner felt like she gained the tools to become a successful goalie by watching from the sidelines and now she enters her third year as the leader of the North Montgomery defense.

“My freshman year I felt like I learned a lot just from watching the senior goalie that was there at the time,” Turner said. “Even when I was just sitting the bench and watching the game, I felt like I got to see our team on offense, in the midfield, and the defense, all work together, so that when I was actually put in goal I knew what was happening on the field.”

The time away didn’t seem to matter either.

Turner returned to a team full of players that look up to and relies on the senior for more than just saving shots.

“You have to have a goalie and have somebody you can trust and be solid back there,” Hodges said. “She is a leader. She wasn’t even here when we got to vote for captains, and she still got ‘I don’t even know how many captain votes,’ just because her team knows what she was like before she left and how that was going to build on that when she returned. There wasn’t a day that didn’t go by at practice all summer longer where somebody was like ‘I miss Sydnee and I can’t wait for Sydnee to be here.’ When I saw her walk into school that first day, she couldn’t even get through without everybody hugging her. She’s just such a huge part of this program. We are a family, and she’s a huge part of that. And it’s really exciting.”

 

Serving Her Country

Turner’s grandpa served in the National Guard and she has always had an interest in service..

And the opportunity with the National Guard has become a perfect fit.

“This opportunity that fell into my lap, I just feel like it’s so perfect for me,” she said. “When I graduate, I’ll got to AIT, where I’ll learn my specific job in the military, and then as soon as I get home I’ll be going to college and hopefully learning something that I love.”

It’s an opportunity to serve and for that, Turner is thankful and honored.

“You always have pride in your country,” she said. “But I feel like after I joined, there has been a different amount of pride that I’ve had in this country. And thinking about 9/11 and stuff, it’s just made me really want to make an impact and help people. I actually went and visited the memorial in New York one time and it was just incredible to see everything that happened there. Before you think it’s really sad and wish you could do something to help, and now I’m like ‘I can do something to help, and I will do something to help. And I’m determined to protect this country.’”


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