When it comes to professional sports, especially basketball, the best kind of player you can be is a champion of your role. It’s not just the superstars that’ll deliver a championship to your franchise. It takes the players off the bench with a smaller part to help earn wins on off nights. It’s the role players that’ll play a significant role in the Finals.
One such player that fits that description is Sydney Colson. Colson has been playing in the W since 2011 after getting drafted 16th overall by the Connecticut Sun but was moved to the Liberty shortly after. She played one season in New York before she went unsigned for a few years.
Colson came back in 2015 playing with the former San Antonio Stars, playing with the franchise for three seasons. She then spent time in Minnesota, Las Vegas, and then Chicago.
Something that we pride ourselves of here is telling the stories of players who might not be a team's number one option. This week, both @jennhatfield1 and @MatthewWalter96 did just that.
— The Next: A women's basketball newsroom at The IX (@TheNextHoops) July 20, 2022
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Despite not playing in the W last year, she didn’t just sit around for an opportunity to come. The former Texas A&M Aggie competed in Athletes Unlimited this past offseason. Her time in the offseason league garnered a training camp invite with Las Vegas that she ultimately parlayed into a roster spot on this year’s team.
Now that she’s back in the League, Colson has embraced and become a champion in her role on the Aces. Her role boils down to being the biggest goofball on not just the Aces but perhaps the WNBA at large. The former NCAA champ is known around League circles as the biggest jokester in the W. You see her personality shine through the most on WNBA Twitter.
“A lot of the time, I just tweet what I’m thinking like most of us do. Most people who know me know I like to laugh, make fun of stuff, find an entertaining spin on most things,” Colson said.
The stu is wherever WE at https://t.co/xAv61F69rX
— Sydney Colson (@SydJColson) July 16, 2022
A lot of my teammates are asleep on this bus ride. I love watching them sleep. I would never hurt them…
— Sydney Colson (@SydJColson) July 14, 2022
After 10 years in the WNBA, Colson’s primary focus is to bring laughter and light to an Aces team locked in on winning their first title in franchise history. After being in and out of the League, the most important thing in her life is practicing gratitude. Gratitude to be able to play a game for a living, especially in a League with roster volatility like the WNBA.
“Gratitude is like a huge thing to me. Just not in basketball, but just being grateful for the people in your life, for the opportunities that you have. Yeah, there are tough days for me sometimes, but I try not to let it show too much,” Colson told The Next. “I think that you know when people stop thinking about themselves, and they realize the situation that they’re in is one that a lot of people would like to be in and when they should be grateful for it’s easy for you to exude happiness and joy.”
If I text you “💿" then I don’t c d point in talkin to u after that
— Sydney Colson (@SydJColson) July 11, 2022
Colson has become a fixture within the Aces organization. She’s the team’s biggest cheerleader, a constant course of coaching, and veteran wisdom to the younger players on the roster. She even gives the coaching staff some suggestions. Colson’s teammates become her biggest cheerleaders when she does get some run.
“She is just the ultimate teammate, the best teammate I’ve ever played with. She is just fun. She’s just pure joy. I think she just brightens everyone’s day and makes everyone feel seen and loved. And that’s a rare gift and quality. She’s obviously a great basketball player, but beyond that, you just want to be around her, and she just makes our locker room dynamic so much fun,” Kelsey Plum told The Next.
“Sydney’s someone who will always have a job always because you need that healthy balance in a locker room. But at the same time, it’s not like we take her as a joke. She’s a teammate; she holds us accountable. She’s a voice that we need on the bench. It’s always good to have that outlet and just to kind of laugh in situations that you shouldn’t be laughing in, but it’s kind of like a pressure release,” A’ja Wilson added.
The Aces feed off of Colson and her personality. That energy she gives has helped the Aces run off to the best record in the West and second-best in the W as of Wednesday. Heading into the back-half of the regular-season, Las Vegas will need Colson to continue to keep things light in the locker room when the Aces need it the most.
