Innisfail's Sydney Daines has continiued her meteoric athletic rise with her first Ladies Barrel Racing Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) buckle and a growing mastery of college level basketball and soccer.
Innisfail's Sydney Daines has continiued her meteoric athletic rise with her first Ladies Barrel Racing Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) buckle and a growing mastery of college level basketball and soccer.
Daines took three rounds of the 2014 CFR in Edmonton on the weekend of November 5 to 9 on the family horse Flame with a time of 14,622 seconds (on Nov. 6) and brought home a purse of slightly more than $45,000 over six go-rounds. The young athlete sits third in CFR earnings with a total of $59,014, slightly more than $20,000 behind Stefanie Mather of Medicine Hat, Alberta.
"I reached my goal," said Daines of her CFR 41 performance. "Earlier this year, when the 2014 rodeo season started, I worked to get to Edmonton in November and I made it after months of hard work."
Daines, a Red Deer College student during the week, earned her rodeo chops honestly, with her father, Duane Daines riding the Rexall ring in the 1990s and mother Cheryl, competing in barrel racing at CFR twice in her career. Duane works as an auctioneer at the Innisfail Auction Market, and Cheryl trains Flame year round.
"This is really a team effort," said Cheryl. "It takes all of us to keep Sydney competing at the level she does right now as well as living in dorm at Red Deer College and being part of the basketball Queens and the soccer program. We call ourselves Team Flame."
Team Flame was not the only team behind the young rider.
"My entire basketball team came up to watch me compete in Edmonton," said Sydney. "There were 20 screaming new to rodeo basketball players wearing Team Daines t-shirts in the stands. It was a great team building moment for all of us."
While the team cheered Sydney on during her runs, first timers were impressed with the magnitude of CFR.
"They didn't realize just how big the event really is," said Sydney.
Duane Daines noted he and his wife were "tickled" their daughter has gone as far as she has.
"She went up there to win," said Duane. "And she did. Sometimes I forget that she is 18, and she is capable of competing at that level. Finishing first in three go-rounds, and second in one out of six is what got her there. She nicked a barrel once, and might have finished higher, but this is a sport and you never know what happens. To go to Edmonton in ninth place and come back in third is a great accomplishment."
Earlier this year, Sydney was named the 2014 Female Athlete of the Year at the Innisfail High School for her achievements in basketball, soccer, and badminton.
"Sydney is an amazing athlete," said Cheryl. "She has an intuition that helps her focus on the job at hand, and the ability to compete at a high level no matter what she is doing. After many years of watching her, she still doesn't get nervous. Duane and I support her in whatever she is doing, but it is her determination that helps her succeed."
With rodeo and soccer season over now for Daines, Red Deer College Queen's basketball is on her radar.
"I'm not a first string player but that is reserved for veteran team players," said Daines who was getting ready to leave for basketball practise. "I do get playing time and continue to improve as a player. This is a team sport, and we all win or lose together."
