Sydney Nicholls

Sydney Nicholls is a grade 11 honour student at West Niagara Secondary School in Grimsby. Her plan is to study Health Science in University with the hopes of working in Sports Medicine.    She is very thrilled and thankful to have been chosen as a featured athlete by the Niagara Orthopedic Institute.

Sydney started her athletic journey, at a very young age, attending both gymnastics and jump rope classes. She was very passionate and highly competitive in both sports but eventually, after a number of years, decided to put all of her energy and talent into jump rope.

As a Lincoln Leaper Sydney became recognized as a tireless, hardworking and dedicated athlete. Currently, she attends 3 jump rope practices a week for a total of 6 hours. Outside of these practices, Sydney runs 5 kms, works out at the local YMCA and even jumps at home in her kitchen ensuring that she gets the training that she needs to achieve her personal goals.

Sydney has been competing in Jump Rope, with the Lincoln Leapers, at local, provincial, national and international level for the past 10 years. Sydney has been the Canadian Champion in her age division on multiple occasions. In fact, she has never placed below 2nd in any of her 8 national competitions. She is presently the current 2023 Ontario Champion in her age division.

Internationally, Sydney earned a 4th place in Individual Freestyle and 14th overall at the IJRU World Championships in Norway in 2019. Sydney represented Canada internationally at the China Open in 2019, and achieved 3rd place overall. In 2021, Rope Skipping Canada held a virtual competition, where athletes submitted videos of their best speeds and performances. After training exclusively in her kitchen, Sydney achieved first place overall. In the 2022 World Junior Virtual Championship, Sydney placed 11th overall.

Sydney has been featured in local newspapers, magazines and on the radio. Most recently she was interviewed on the CBC Saturday morning show ‘Fresh Air’ in January of 2022. She was also showcased in the January /February 2020 edition of NewsNow’s Club West Magazine along with her Lincoln Leaper teammates. Finally, during the 2022 Canada Summer Games Sydney was selected to participate as not only a torchbearer representing her hometown of  Grimsby but also as a jump rope athlete participating in the opening ceremonies.

As Sydney continues in her 10th year of jumping competitively she not only trains for upcoming competitions but gives back to her sport by being the Head Coach of the Little Leapers Jump Rope Club and the Lincoln Leaper Performance Team. Sydney also works at the local gymnastics club, Aspire Gymnastics, as a coach. 

Sydney is so appreciative of her many good fortunes and achievements as an elite level athlete but knows that success does not always come easily. Success, she has learned, is the reward of hard work, sacrifice, dedication and determination. As one final thought she would like to add that much of her personal success has come thanks to the talented guidance and physiotherapy care of her amazing physiotherapist Taskeen Karim of the Niagara Orthopedic Institute.

Sydney always remembers that every successful athlete has to work very hard to achieve their goals and has to have a talented Physiotherapist at their side.