Sydney Segroves has always been a small-town girl.

Growing up in Unionville, she was always involved with sports and highlighted her high school career playing basketball for the Viqueens.

A 2017 Community graduate, Segroves signed a letter of intent to continue her career at the College of Coastal Georgia, in Brunswick, Ga.

Following a short stint there, Segroves made a little change in destination and ended up in Caronport, Sasktachewan. at Briarcrest College.

"My first college was definitely an experience. My first year in college, I started along with (Shelbyville Central graduate) Romny Felts," she said.

After her first year, Segroves knew she needed a change in venue and eventually ended up in rural Caronport, Saskatchewan.

Caronport is a small community that has a population of just under 1,000 residents.

"The environment there (at Coastal Georgia) wasn't good for me anymore. So I decided to go to Canada. Being a small town girl, I wanted to get away," she said.

Even with the change in sports, Segroves had to battle injuries at both her collegiate stops while continuing her basketball career.

"I tore my quad my sophomore year in college and I played through that. We were doing therapy 24/7. When I got to Canada, we didn't really have an athletic trainer, so I was doing what I would do here for rehab," she said.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic began, Segroves was forced to retreat home with the threat of being closed off from family due to the Canadian border shutting down.

"It was (tough) leaving the friends behind. I made two really good friends up there. It was a Christian school, so they helped more faith-wise. Leaving all of them behind was kind of rough," she said.

Things continued to line up for Segroves as she was able to transition back to Bedford County living and being closer to her family.

"I moved into a house and just stayed with my family and tried to connect with them a little more," she said.

Since returning home, Segroves has joined the staff of the Times-Gazette and will be working with the sports department staff, as well as engaging the community in local features as well.

"I was excited because I wanted to do journalism before I left for college, but there's not many jobs for having that first opportunity. It's pretty exciting knowing that I'm doing sports," she said.

"Having someone like Sydney who knows the county and community join our staff is a great asset to us in the sports department. She's a local who had a great career playing sports and now she gets an opportunity to kind of flip the script and still be around athletics, but in a different capacity," sports editor Chris Siers said. "I think Sydney will be a great asset for our staff, not just from a sports perspective, but also being a community reporter as well."

"I think there's more than just sports in Bedford County. Once you've grown up being known only for sports, I want to get out there and see what else is out there," she said.