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Syracuse University women’s volleyball player Sydney Moore was first inspired to start a podcast last fall while participating in the Name, Image and Likeness Empower 3.0 program. Meta partnered with the NCAA to develop a program that aimed to help women student-athletes take advantage of NIL opportunities by providing athletes with marketing and career development skills.

Meta challenged program participants to leave their comfort zones to develop their online presence. Moore decided a podcast could be the best avenue to do just that.

In December, Moore launched “Let’s Talk About It,” a podcast where she speaks with other college athletes about their personal challenges. Her goal was to create a safe space for college athletes to join in speaking openly about the issues they face.

Even before starting LTBI, the SU volleyball player attracted national attention for her activism. She won the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership award at the 2022 ESPYS. Moore was also recognized as one of Glamour Magazine’s College Women of the Year in 2023 for her work with the organization Voice In Sport, which aims to connect and empower young women in sports. Moore’s podcast has become another avenue for her to amplify her voice.

Her life as a current student-athlete gives her a first-hand perspective. The advice she’s sharing and topics she’s discussing are directly applicable to her audience because Moore is in the same position as them.

“It’s really easy sometimes to find podcasts from people who are a little bit farther removed from the situation, or who have guests who already reached a ton of success,” Moore said. “But going through it with someone who’s also in the mud with you, I think is really special about the podcast.”

The first episode of LTBI featured Makenna Chokelal, a former women’s ice hockey player from Cornell, where Moore previously played volleyball. The two spoke about Chokelal’s medical retirement from ice hockey and the toll that can take on an athlete’s mental health and identity. To record the episode, Moore used her phone and a tripod, unsure if she would even do anything with the footage.

Since then, Moore has posted 21 full episodes and seven mini-clips, which feature extra content from her guests. She does all of the planning, interview and editing on her own.

Moore chose Instagram reels to post her content because she knows student athletes don’t often have the downtime to listen to longer-form content. By using Instagram, she’s able to keep the episodes short to ensure viewers can give them their full attention.

“The episodes are usually less like an interview, where we’re getting to know someone, but more trying to talk about a specific topic or an idea and using the guest as a lens to better understand (that topic),” Moore said.

To prepare for each episode, Moore creates an outline identifying what topics she plans to cover. The majority of her guests are people she’s already familiar with, so the conversations are often just an extension of ones Moore has had off-camera. Though, not every interview ends up being posted, as Moore wants guests to feel comfortable being vulnerable when it comes to sharing their stories.

During her episodes, Moore also wants to make sure athletes know where they can go to be supported. She said that if people are excited by LTBI, she’s hopeful that they’ll become curious and even continue her mission within their own communities.

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In an episode with USA women’s field hockey player Caroline Ramsey, Moore brought up the pressures associated with playing at such an elite level.

“(Moore’s) hope is that other student athletes watching can relate to it, and I think that is really important, especially because a lot of different topics that surround student athletes can sometimes go unmentioned,” Ramsey said. “Everyone likes to talk about the good and the success, but I think Sydney creating an open platform to talk with other student-athletes about how there are ups and downs is really important.”

Another guest featured on the podcast is Wake Forest women’s cross country runner Molly Dreher. Dreher and Moore discussed their graduate transfer experiences and the development of NIL laws.

“Driving conversations like that on a public platform not only lets down your own personal guard with others, but hopefully inspires others to let down their guard too and find community,” Dreher said. “It’s really beneficial to kind of cross those boundaries we set up by finding common ground.”

On top of creating a supportive environment for athletes, Moore hosts conversations that cover topics people who aren’t involved in sports can still learn from.

Cornell women’s basketball player Summer Parker-Hall and Moore spoke on the importance of representation in college athletics. More specifically, the two shared their stories of being the only African Americans in certain environments and how finding others who can relate to your identities can completely change your experience.

“Everyone should be able to look up to someone that looks like them,” Parker-Hall said. “(LTBI) targets different types of people, it could be a little girl that’s not even interested in sports, but just talking about being the only Black girl in a room, and it’s okay to be like that and you’re welcomed.”

On Sept. 10, Moore announced her partnership with The Zone, an app that works to support student athlete’s mental health. For the next six weeks after the announcement, LTBI will continue to host clinicians, coaches, administrators and more athletes to “take a deeper dive into the truths we already know,” according to Moore’s Instagram.

Moore met founder and CEO of The Zone, Ivan Tchatchouwo, at a mental health conference for the Ivy League and Patriot League last year. The Zone hosted a presentation that interested Moore, who was majoring in psychology and neuroscience at the time, so she reached out. But Moore’s collaboration with The Zone didn’t start until they saw LTBI.

“(Tchatchouwo) saw the podcast and thought it was really great for what (it) was doing,” Moore said. “It ended up turning into an awesome partnership which I’m really excited about.”

In her episode with Yale women’s lacrosse player Marymegan Wright, Moore found they had similar experiences and struggles finding their place within a program. Moore describes it as one of the most rewarding moments since starting LTBI because she saw that there are so many other people who resonate with what she’s saying and the topics she brings up.

“Don’t be afraid to be seen trying,” Moore said. “I think athletes just not being afraid to be seen trying and standing behind something that (they) truly care about is just the first step.”

Published on September 25, 2024 at 11:25 pm

Contact Vivian: vpcollins06@gmail.com