University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Sydney Chambley
April 16, 2021 | Softball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Sydney Chambley didn't have to wait long to smack and savor her first collegiate home run. The Georgia freshman went deep in her third career at-bat — she got an RBI triple in her second — a two-run shot to center field in the Bulldogs' second game of the season.
A left fielder from Dallas, Ga., Chambley has started 34 games this season and is second on the team with a .319 batting average, tied for the team lead with 26 RBIs, third with nine home runs and she leads the Bulldogs with six triples. Yes, she's having a lot of fun.
During a Quick Chat after practice Thursday, before the No. 20 Bulldogs host No. 10 Arkansas in a big SEC series this weekend at Jack Turner Stadium, Chambley talked about that first home run. She also chatted about singing, life back home, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: What is the biggest adjustment going from high school and travel ball to playing for Georgia and competing in the SEC?
Chambley: I think the biggest adjustment is a lot of mental stuff. A lot of the physical stuff you will forever work on perfecting, but the mental game is really the biggest adjustment.
I feel like being home and being with your family, you're always surrounded by people that know who you are and who you've been your whole life. When you get to college, you kind of have to prove yourself, in a way, and you're also having to find within yourself that you know who you say are, and prove to your teammates that you're here for a reason and prove to the coaches that they were right to trust in you.
For me, it was really working on my mindset because that can defeat you more than anything physical, I feel like.
Frierson: I feel like softball and baseball players seem to have the most superstitions and routines when it comes to games. Do you have anything like that, something you do every at-bat or every game to bring you good luck?
Chambley: I don't have a ton of superstitions. My mornings, I tend to wake up really early on game days because I have to have a lot of time to myself. I'll wake up, chill out for a little bit, do my devotion, which is a really big deal to get my mind right for the day and just get grounded.
Frierson: What is your walk-up song?
Chambley: My song is "Bad to the Bone" — ever since I saw "The Parent Trap" and they were playing that, I just thought it was the best thing ever. Ever since then, I did that in high school and I just kept going with it. My dad kind of gives me a hard time about it, but I like it. That's my ideal walk-up song.
Frierson: That song came out probably 20 years before you were born.
Chambley: I'm an old-school girl at heart when it comes to music.
Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do?
Chambley: My heart is leading worship — I'm actually doing that after this (interview). My mom was a professional singer, my dad's side of the family is musical, including my dad, and my little sister sings, too. Me, my mom and my sister will sing together, and after softball I think it's going to be music, but in sense of worship-leading and not necessarily making myself known. It's just what I want my life to be about, so there's that creative side of me, but it's more music directed than art. I can't really draw so I just stick to writing and singing.
Frierson: What can you tell me about your first home run for Georgia?
Chambley: I just remember being in the box and I was trusting where I was. I knew in that moment that this is where the Lord's called me to be and where He's put me, and that swing just felt unlike any other — it was so freeing. It was just swing and the ball went. It had an easy kind of feel to it, it wasn't anything big or tense like I was trying hard.
Frierson: When you think of home what comes to mind?
Chambley: When I think about home I think about cows because going to elementary school I would have to go through a cow pasture to get to my school. It's a really nice community for me because a lot of people know my mom because she has a mom's ministry. Nine times out of 10, I'll walk into a store and see somebody I know, and that's kind of nice because I know that someone there knows me and I know them, and I can genuinely ask them, how are you doing? That's very comforting to me.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Chambley: My mom's spinach manicotti. She doesn't cook very often, and she'll tell you that, but when she makes that it's my favorite thing ever. I'll have like five helpings [laughs].
Frierson: How are you in the kitchen?
Chambley: Not very good. I definitely have a hard time following directions and I kind of just get carried away. Sometimes I realize I don't have what I need so I just try and make up for it, and that doesn't work out too well. I can make chocolate chip cookies, so that's at least something [laughs]. And I can make you a cup of coffee.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
Chambley: I would have to say either a pianist or a sculptor. I think that's so intriguing because I know nothing about it. Being a sculptor or doing pottery, I think that would be really cool, to be like, oh, let me go make a whole set of dishes.
Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else's dime, where would you go and who would you take with you?
Chambley: I'd probably go to a ranch in the middle of Wyoming, and I'd take my mom, my mentor, my sister and my other two mentors. We'd just go there for the weekend, and I'd take a couple of famous people, and we'd sit and do nothing and worship and drink coffee [laughs].
Frierson: You don't have to be at a ranch in the middle of Wyoming to sit around drinking coffee and doing nothing.
Chambley: No, you don't, thankfully, but I think just the quietness in the middle of nowhere out in Wyoming, I think that would be really awesome.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Sydney Chambley didn't have to wait long to smack and savor her first collegiate home run. The Georgia freshman went deep in her third career at-bat — she got an RBI triple in her second — a two-run shot to center field in the Bulldogs' second game of the season.
A left fielder from Dallas, Ga., Chambley has started 34 games this season and is second on the team with a .319 batting average, tied for the team lead with 26 RBIs, third with nine home runs and she leads the Bulldogs with six triples. Yes, she's having a lot of fun.
During a Quick Chat after practice Thursday, before the No. 20 Bulldogs host No. 10 Arkansas in a big SEC series this weekend at Jack Turner Stadium, Chambley talked about that first home run. She also chatted about singing, life back home, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: What is the biggest adjustment going from high school and travel ball to playing for Georgia and competing in the SEC?
Chambley: I think the biggest adjustment is a lot of mental stuff. A lot of the physical stuff you will forever work on perfecting, but the mental game is really the biggest adjustment.
I feel like being home and being with your family, you're always surrounded by people that know who you are and who you've been your whole life. When you get to college, you kind of have to prove yourself, in a way, and you're also having to find within yourself that you know who you say are, and prove to your teammates that you're here for a reason and prove to the coaches that they were right to trust in you.
For me, it was really working on my mindset because that can defeat you more than anything physical, I feel like.
Frierson: I feel like softball and baseball players seem to have the most superstitions and routines when it comes to games. Do you have anything like that, something you do every at-bat or every game to bring you good luck?
Chambley: I don't have a ton of superstitions. My mornings, I tend to wake up really early on game days because I have to have a lot of time to myself. I'll wake up, chill out for a little bit, do my devotion, which is a really big deal to get my mind right for the day and just get grounded.
Frierson: What is your walk-up song?
Chambley: My song is "Bad to the Bone" — ever since I saw "The Parent Trap" and they were playing that, I just thought it was the best thing ever. Ever since then, I did that in high school and I just kept going with it. My dad kind of gives me a hard time about it, but I like it. That's my ideal walk-up song.
Frierson: That song came out probably 20 years before you were born.
Chambley: I'm an old-school girl at heart when it comes to music.
Frierson: Do you have a creative side? Is there anything creative you do or wish you could do?
Chambley: My heart is leading worship — I'm actually doing that after this (interview). My mom was a professional singer, my dad's side of the family is musical, including my dad, and my little sister sings, too. Me, my mom and my sister will sing together, and after softball I think it's going to be music, but in sense of worship-leading and not necessarily making myself known. It's just what I want my life to be about, so there's that creative side of me, but it's more music directed than art. I can't really draw so I just stick to writing and singing.
Frierson: What can you tell me about your first home run for Georgia?
Chambley: I just remember being in the box and I was trusting where I was. I knew in that moment that this is where the Lord's called me to be and where He's put me, and that swing just felt unlike any other — it was so freeing. It was just swing and the ball went. It had an easy kind of feel to it, it wasn't anything big or tense like I was trying hard.
Frierson: When you think of home what comes to mind?
Chambley: When I think about home I think about cows because going to elementary school I would have to go through a cow pasture to get to my school. It's a really nice community for me because a lot of people know my mom because she has a mom's ministry. Nine times out of 10, I'll walk into a store and see somebody I know, and that's kind of nice because I know that someone there knows me and I know them, and I can genuinely ask them, how are you doing? That's very comforting to me.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Chambley: My mom's spinach manicotti. She doesn't cook very often, and she'll tell you that, but when she makes that it's my favorite thing ever. I'll have like five helpings [laughs].
Frierson: How are you in the kitchen?
Chambley: Not very good. I definitely have a hard time following directions and I kind of just get carried away. Sometimes I realize I don't have what I need so I just try and make up for it, and that doesn't work out too well. I can make chocolate chip cookies, so that's at least something [laughs]. And I can make you a cup of coffee.
Frierson: If you could be great at anything for a day, just to experience it, what would it be?
Chambley: I would have to say either a pianist or a sculptor. I think that's so intriguing because I know nothing about it. Being a sculptor or doing pottery, I think that would be really cool, to be like, oh, let me go make a whole set of dishes.
Frierson: If you could travel anywhere in the world on somebody else's dime, where would you go and who would you take with you?
Chambley: I'd probably go to a ranch in the middle of Wyoming, and I'd take my mom, my mentor, my sister and my other two mentors. We'd just go there for the weekend, and I'd take a couple of famous people, and we'd sit and do nothing and worship and drink coffee [laughs].
Frierson: You don't have to be at a ranch in the middle of Wyoming to sit around drinking coffee and doing nothing.
Chambley: No, you don't, thankfully, but I think just the quietness in the middle of nowhere out in Wyoming, I think that would be really awesome.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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