All right, welcome back everybody. Uh, thanks for checking us out on another episode of Checking In. Um, a podcast where we talk about our personal experiences with money, the good stuff, the bad stuff, the stressful stuff, the fun stuff. Um, but we're we're grateful today to dive into it uh with another one of our uh brand ambassadors from uh we are thrilled to have and I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna butcher this. Um uh Sydney Sora Sora. I was so close. I was so close. Uh Sydney Sora with us, a volleyball player. What What year are you, Sydney? I'm a sophomore. Sophomore. Second year. Yes, sir. Awesome. Yeah. So, you've you've been around the block a time or two. You've got all this. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. You know what to do. A little bit of knowledge. Yeah. Yeah. You know where all the hangouts are on campus, right? Maybe not that. You're kind of busy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got a few things on your schedule. Uh but we are u excited to have Sydney today uh to just talk about money and talk about our experiences with it. Uh talk about your experiences with it because you're kind of in a unique situation with the ongoing evolution of NIL and college athletics and all that stuff. You you find yourself there. So typically what we do is we kind of break up into a couple segments. Uh the first one being income and I just mean that in terms of what are the positive feelings about money? What are the good experiences we had and how do they uh shape our understanding of money? So we'll start there. Um I I like to ask you know do you remember your first paycheck? Something tells me that wasn't too far off for you. So, but the the the evolution of that question or the transformation of that question for you though is I'm sure you were a dedicated athlete growing up and so you didn't have a ton of time to uh work a a job or anything like that, did you? I actually did have a job. I had a couple of jobs. Yeah. I did a little bit of Kids Inc. coaching and then I worked at an allwoman's gym. So, I got to do that for I think about two years. So, I do that when I go home and stuff. So, it's pretty nice. Okay. Yeah. So, that was kind of your first uh entry into the workforce. Do you remember the first paycheck? I don't remember my first paycheck, but I mean I like money. So, I mean, I remember all of them. Really? Nice. I like that you remembered them all. That That's good. Um, how did that first one feel? I mean, was it like Oh, the newfound sense of independence and like autonomy and all that stuff. Yeah, for sure. I mean, money is such a big factor of independence. So, me wanting to be independent, my parents are super providing and super great at that and I'm super grateful for that. But I wanted to have my mo own money to spend obviously, but I also I'm a big saver. So, I don't necessarily love to spend money. I'm very stingy with my money unless I actually want to spend it. But yeah. Yeah. Frugal. We'll say frugal. Yeah, frugal. That's a good word. It's a great word. Disciplined. Yeah. There we go. There we go. Yeah, I like that. That fits perfectly. Uh, so you're a saver. So, what are your tips and tricks for saving? Like, do you just put it in an account and never look at it or do you watch every penny? I watch every penny. My dad is just like that. Um, so I've definitely learned from him. Um, I don't like my bank account dropping from one like digit to another. It just gives me anxiety. But, I mean, I don't know. I just like to have money in my account. Yeah. The opposite of that anxiety though is it feels good when it goes up, right? Yeah. Yeah. You get the the good emotions there. Yeah. Very nice. So, what do you say for is it like do you have goals or is it just like No, I like the the comfort of having like a contingency in case something happens. Yeah. I have one like little separate account for like travel or like extra money, whether that's like a friend's wedding I need to go to or just like simple things like that. I have a little thing. It takes out money every month. So that's obviously helpful. And then I mean that's really that's really it to be honest. That's how I save money. Um I don't spend it obviously. So yeah. Yeah. It doesn't go anywhere. Yeah. You probably don't have a ton of time to spend it either, right? Yeah. So you're kind of busy on for sure. Yes. We mentioned volleyball, right? You're a volleyball player. I I don't know. Did we? Yes, I play volleyball. You play volleyball. Okay. Just in case everybody doesn't know, uh Sydney plays volleyball uh for So yeah. Um, well, you talk a little bit about your dad and your your family. Were Were those big influences on how you look at money? Yeah, for sure. Um, my dad is very good at saving. My mom is a branch manager at a bank back home and so she definitely has taught me about like credit and how to save, how to spend, what accounts you need. So, that's been super informational. Um, so yeah, that's a really big part about why I save and why I have so many like things I want to put money in for the future. So that's great. When do you remember when that started? Was was it always just part of the family conversation or was there like a concentrated effort as you got older for your parents to be like, "No, this is how you handle money." I mean, my mom definitely is like, "Okay, Sydney, like we need to just put this aside. Like, we're going to do this." Like, I don't really have a say. So, she's just like, "We're going to do this." I'm like, "Okay, mom." then she'll explain it to me obviously. But yeah, there's not really a there wasn't really conversations or it was kind of like I like saving my money, let's do it this way. My mom's like, "Okay, great." And then my dad's just like, "Save your money." That's really all he has to say. Nice. Yeah. Nice. Well, I really hope my kids hear this because the way you said your mom said, "Let's do this." And you're like, "Okay, mom." I don't think my kids easier said than said than done. Yeah. That's funny. So, you're talking about um you you usually have goals, right? or or something like a friend's wedding or travel experience or stuff. Um, that's kind of how you you look at your your saving at least. Um, what about your spending? Is it is it uh planned spending or is it splurges? I wouldn't say splurge. I do love a good coffee here and there. Um, food obviously that's probably the most I like when we go shopping. I'm like I don't actually really need that. I'm not going to get it. But if I'm in the mood, I mean I can spend some money. I can put it away. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is it on clothes or is it food or is it um Sometimes on clothes? Let me Let me ask you this. What do you not mind spending money on? Coffee, food, and my nails. Nails. Okay. Coffee, food, nails. All right. Yeah. I can't I'm I can't say that. I don't spend too much on the nails. Coffee? Yes. Food? Yes. Nails? Yeah. That's That's That's no Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. Um, so if you like to Well, you don't you don't necessarily have time. Well, let's transition to that. Let's talk about your uh day-to-day schedule and your um life as a college athlete. Um you're obviously probably doing this. I don't want to speak for you, but because you love the game, right? Uh because you just love to compete and you love to get out there and do your best. With NIL entering this world, has that changed any of your motivation? you know, you're like, "Oh, now I can actually make money doing what I love if I do X, Y, and Z, right? If I put my brand out there, if I, you know, market myself, etc." Has that changed anything about how you approach athletics? Not really. No, because I mean, women's sport as it is, it's harder for us to do NIL, especially volleyball. Um, it's really big on marketing yourself, networking yourself, but so that's like a big opportunity I've been trying to work on and get with other people who know more about that. But I wouldn't say it's changed my motivation. I'm not really here for the money. I'm here to play and um love my teammate, so I'm here to win obviously. So yeah, I just have a competitive fire in me. So that's a big motivation. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. It drives I'm I'm sure it drives a lot of your life that that that that competitiveness to to be your best. So the NIL stuff is just kind of a nice perk when For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Very nice. Well, how about this? I always uh think this is interesting. So, I I have a daughter and and a son who kind of went through their um early sports athletic careers, right? My daughter plays golf and she's starting to get into that. Growing up, did you ever have this experience where you had friends or teammates or anything whose parents like motivated them by money? And I'll just give you an example. Um like when I played baseball, sometimes I had friends who were like, "Dads were my dad's going to give me five bucks if I hit a double." Right? You know, that type of thing. Do you ever run into that as a kid? Definitely. Yeah. I've definitely had people who I played with who parents were like, "Okay, if you hit them like in the head, you know, like you get $5, but not ever my parents really." No. Yeah. My parents were Yeah. No, they're like, "You're fine. This is what you need to do." Exactly. Yeah. This is this is your reward. You get to play a sport. Yeah. Nice. How'd you feel about those kids that did get the money? I was like, "Okay, let's do it. Come on. You got it." Like, you know, I was like, "Okay, you need money. I got you." So, it never really affected me in a negative way. I just wanted to do it for them. Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever do you ever get to split any of the uh rewards? Oh, I wouldn't say that. Parents maybe like bought me ice cream or something. There we go. I can remember as a as little league, right? You got the soda after the game. Exactly. That was always for sure. Yeah. That's funny. Well, talking kind of about budgeting and saving and all that stuff, do you um have like a regular routine when it comes to kind of tracking your pennies? I really don't. Um, I'll try to limit like myself throughout the week, like when I can go out and eat or how many coffees I'm getting or just little stuff like that. I don't really have a super big no nos that I can't do throughout the week. Um, I'm not a big splurgger like I've never been. So, I mean, it's not hard for me to save money. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty simple. Yeah. It's hard for me to spend money. I was gonna say money comes in, but it hurts when it goes out. Correct. Yep. You stay away from the hurt. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Well, kind of speaking about that process, too. How do you feel about cash? Are you uh all digital or do you actually carry cash? I like cash. I don't have like I like to have stashes of cash like for a rainy day. Like I'm always thinking about like what happens like what happens if I lose my car? Like I whatever. But yeah, I have some cash like I'll like hide it. But I have like Apple Pay and I use that so that's pretty helpful when I don't want to bring my purse in or Yeah. So yeah, both. I'm I'm always interested to ask that question because I mean it was totally different for my generation. It's going to be totally different for my kids. Uh like paying my kids allowance and I don't think they've ever actually seen cash transferred over to their account. Yeah. But it does make me nervous to to carry around everything in my phone. So yeah, it is. Yeah. So and it and it hurts. We're talking about hurting spending money. For some reason, swiping a card, it's like, oh yeah, don't even think about it. But when you pull out the cash, you're like, oh, I don't want to give this up. Sometimes I'm like, "Oh, maybe if I use cash, it's free because I can't see it anymore." You know, it's like free girl math. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I don't I don't know. I don't know if I'm gonna Oh, no. I know girl math from Great. I've got a wife uh who hopefully isn't listening to this. Uh but uh but no, I totally get that. Yeah. Oh, I've talked about with with other guests on the podcast. Uh gift cards. Yeah. You know, gift cards. Love a good gift card. Oh, see they drive me nuts. What? Why? Because Well, I should take that back. When I get them, I don't mind them. But like when my wife gets them, she goes in and buys something that's more than the gift card and she's like, "I got a good deal. Like I saved money." I have to agree with her. Sorry about that. I don't know about that. I don't know. I thought we were on the same page. We're drifting now. Drifting. Dang it. We gota We got to bring it back in. Yeah. Nice. Uh well, what's your uh degree in? What's your major? I'm kinesiology prepp. Oh, okay. Very nice. You're going to go into physical therapy? Yes. I want to be a PTA for pediatrics. So, I want to work with babies and kids. Okay. Very nice. Very nice. So, you got a pretty good roadap for your future a little bit. Yeah. I'm trying to figure it out. Yeah. Yep. So, I'm going to guess grad school. Yes. Or is it like a certification? Like a still looking into it. I mean, I don't know. I'm just trying to get my basics done. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Get through the the first part of it. Exactly. Yeah. So, what does preparing for your life after sports look like in terms of you're a saver, right? So, do you have any big financial goals or milestone that you're like shooting for after college? I definitely want to get my own home. Um, that's a really big thing. Independence, pay my own bills, you know, get my car paid off, like all of the adult things that we need to do. I'm going to be like, "Dad, I got it this time." But that's a those are big goals for me is to take it off my parents and be able to provide for myself and just create that independence even more. So yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Again, I hope my kids are listening to this. Yeah, you're you're a great role model. Great role model. Uh keep going down that that path. So um so yeah, thinking about those big milestones like car paid off, house, all of that stuff. Um, do you know how you're going to do that or do you have any plans for that? Um, I have a savings. So, I have a pretty big savings and just working towards that really just finding ways to continue to put stuff in there and try to be less frugal but still frugal, you know. Um, so yeah, I mean just really working with my mom obviously because she knows way more than I do. Um, she's been super helpful and just like continuing to learn more about that. So whenever I do get to be independent and have those pills and have all of those things to do, I'll have a good idea of what to do with them and not be so stressed out and over stimulated and all those things. Yeah. Be prepared. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And I think that's one thing that a lot of people forget about budgeting. Like there's no magic trick. There's no like special formula that you can put stuff into and voila, you know, money multiplies. It's just being disciplined and being regimented enough to be like that's my goal. This is how I'm going to save towards it. this is how I'm going to build up my credit. This is how I'm going to do, you know, X, Y, and Z. And then after doing that faithfully for a long period of time, you'll find yourself in a good place. Yeah, for sure. So, just that kind of structure and that that regimen. So, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Well, talk to me about your um your athletic experience. So, what do you find the most uh enjoyable or what do you look forward to most in your season? You know, I just like seeing how much improvement we make throughout the year. Um, my team is amazing. My coaches are amazing this year and I'm just like super grateful that I got to be in this program and I'm in this program that has a great culture and we have connections. We have chemistry. So, like really just building that and fine-tuning ways of our play and just like how we are as humans. Our um coaching staff really cares about how we are as people. And so that's super rare to find when we're we want to win and we want to really perform. So that's super I'm super grateful to be a part of that. Um but yeah, just really the growth we make throughout the year is going to be super exciting because it's just amazing like obviously to win and to do it alongside my sisters. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. I like to hear that. Yeah. No, it's that's absolutely fun to watch you guys evolve uh over the course of of the season. So, um, I think I mean being green athletics does a phenomenal job at developing their players. So, for sure you're you're a testament to that and your illustration of that. So, yeah, that's awesome. Um,

practice or or competition? Like what's your favorite part? You like to play, you like to practice? Oh, yeah. Obviously games. I love to win. In pra I mean in practice we do games, we play against each other, but we try to hit each other in the head. Heard that. Well, it's something about like a a different team on the other side of the net. You know, we're all united on our side and we're really trying to like put what we did in p. I mean, obviously practice is super important. That's where we create all of our crafts, but it's something about that competitive fire in me. It comes out a lot extremely um powerful during games. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you're the intense one. I would say that. Yes. Would your teammates say that? Yes, they would. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Very nice. Very nice. Um well, also, so we we often like to talk a little bit about uh kind of some some what I call the no-brainer segment. Just questions that you don't know are coming at you, but um kind of rapid fire and and gets conversation uh moving. So, let's start with um teammates. Okay. You you want to dish a little bit on your teammates? No, I don't want to dish on them. We won't dish on them. No, not at all. Uh, I was just meaning can you what is the teammate most likely to get to have a destination wedding? How about that? Get married on an island or a beach or something. I don't know. Maybe that's a tough one. Maybe Lori Donna Fungi. Yeah, she's I forgot where she's from, but she wants to move to New York, maybe it is. So, I mean, I'm She likes to travel. She's She's awesome. So, probably her. She's the wanderer. Yeah, I love her. She's so smart, too. Nice. Yeah, nice. That's a good plug. Yeah. Um, you're welcome, Lori. Yeah. Well, we'll exchange the the the check later. Um, teammate you would most likely want to go get coffee with? Oh, that's hard. That's really hard. All of You can say all of them. Yeah, all of them. Maybe. Oh, no. I have to say all of them. I don't know. All of them? Yeah. I put you on the spot on that. Yeah, that's a tough one. Yeah, you had to you had to narrow down quickly. So, all right. Um, teammate you would call at two o'clock 2 o'clock in the morning when you need a ride home. Reese Waters. Oh, that was quick. Yeah, she's my roommate. Oh, yeah. But like that makes sense. She's awesome. She could pick up the phone in a heartbeat and be there in 10 minutes. Got your back. Yeah. Love her. She's awesome. Really anybody though. Yeah, we all would do it for each other. So, yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Um, teammate most likely to have their own comedy special. Comedy special. Oh, no. We're all pretty funny. Um, oh, that's a tough one. I'm gonna say I'm not going to let you off the hook on this one. I know. Hold on. Let me think. Let me think of all the people on my team. You've already used all of them, so you can't I know. Dang it. Okay. Can I take it back? Um, comedy. How about or most dramatic? How about that? Dramatic. Sure. Oh, I'd rather pick the comedy one. Oh, okay. We'll go back to comedy. I'm gonna say probably it's like can it be a group of people? Sure. Okay. So, you just can't say all of them. Okay. So, probably Nia, Janiah Jackson, and then Addison Achilles. They're pretty funny together. Yeah. And then so it's like a troop. Yeah. And then the other two would probably be Reese and Lily together. They're just like so like funny. Like I don't they're I live with both of them so I'm laughing constantly. Gotcha. But we all have the same humor so that probably helps but probably them. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. All right. Well, let's uh Wait, we won't we won't bag on our teammates anymore. Um what about uh what's your favorite sports movie? Sports movie? Yeah. I don't really watch movies. Watch movies. Like I don't really know. What do you do for fun? Um shows. TV shows. Yeah. or like well let's what's on your uh streaming feed right now? What are you watching streaming feed? I mean I like Disney movies like just Disney movies like I don't really watch any other movies. Um actually that's a lie. I'm lying to you right now. You shouldn't do that. Probably. Well, I watch like the Hunger Games. That's being recorded. Oh no. Yeah. Don't air that one. Don't air that one. No. I like Hunger Games. Hunger Games. Okay. And there's a new movie coming out so I'm That's my answer. Okay. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Yeah. My daughter made me watch Hunger Games. She read them in in middle school, so you had to watch. I read the the newest book. Yeah. So, I'm waiting for the movie. So, are you a reader? No, actually, I got it read to me on my drive here from home. It read read it to me. So, Gotcha. Gotcha. Audible. Exactly. Yeah. Y that's the same thing. Yeah. You know, pretty basically. I mean, I'm basically reading it basically. Yes. Uh, you want to talk about goats? Any sport. Who's your goat? Oh. or musician or actress, actor or Oh, no. Okay. I'm not good with these questions. Let's see. Maybe like Simone Biles. Okay. Like she's pretty inspirational. She's done a lot of things. She's she's in inspirational not only by her sport, but like her mental health journey and all of the things that she has like impacted so many athletes all over the world. Yeah. So, probably her. She's a pretty big um impactful, passionate person. So, yeah, 100%. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Beyond just her athletic career, uh the ability to stop and say, "No, I need to take care of myself." And then jump back into it at a later. Yeah, that speaks volumes. Yeah. Such a big uh you know, role model move there. Like, it's okay, take care of yourself. So, yeah, that's really cool. Okay, I'll give you a pass or a passing grade on that one. Okay, thank you so much. You get the A for effort. Yay. We're back on it. There we go. same page. We work that back into the conversation. Oh, awesome. Um, well, what do you got on your Apple Music going right now? Apple Music. I love country. Oh, all right. Um, I'm You from Texas? I am. Okay. That's what I thought. Where? What part? Emilo. Okay. Yeah. By morning. Yeah. Amarillo by Morning. Yep. That's the one. Um, I like Taylor Swift. People are going to like hate on me for that, but I like Taylor Swift. You don't know. I mean, but I've really listened to all genres to be honest. Yeah. My my daughter's a swifty, but I I like to let her know it's Taylor Kelsey and she doesn't like that. I I don't like it either. Yeah. He can take her last name. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. That's funny. Awesome. Um well, we are Sydney, we we are so grateful for you spending a few minutes with us today. Um so excited to see how your season unfolds and how the rest of your career unfolds. um and wish you all the luck uh this season and as you get your as you pursue your your PT uh pediatric PT and all that stuff. So know you've got a really bright future with your discipline and your fire. Um we are just grateful to have you as a DACU brand ambassador. So thank you so much for being with us today. Yeah, thank you for having me. It's been great. Absolutely. Yeah. All right, guys. Uh appreciate it. Uh hey, catch a catch a match this season. uh head out to the Super Pit and and grab a grab a match or two. You guys are playing in the Super Pit, right? We play we actually play Florida in the Super Pit here re or here soon and then we are in our own volleyball center. That's what I thought. Yeah, you looked at me funny when I said Super What did I say? I said something wrong. No, you're good. Yeah, but make sure you get out uh catch these these ladies um being competitive and showing that fire out on the court. So, yeah, thanks for joining us, guys. Uh, thank you so much for checking us out on Checking In.