House Call · Clemson Athletics
House Call with Sydney Minarik
Clemson’s All-Access crew makes a house call to Sydney’s home in Huntersville, NC for an up-close conversation about her journey on and off the pitch.
A new book by Sydney Minarik
Make Your Impact
Transform Yourself to Serve Your Team
Part memoir, part playbook, “Make Your Impact: Transform Yourself to Serve Your Team” is a guide to finding worth in your role on your team and making your impact through it.
Drawing from her experiences as a collegiate-athlete-turned-pro both on and off the soccer field, Sydney Minarik blends memoir-style storytelling with tried-and-tested personal transformation advice you can use while finding your footing in your life and on your team. As a speaker, writer, and lifelong learner, Sydney offers a relatable guide to making your impact while understanding your unique part in the collective, redefining yourself for purpose, and shaping habits for success. If your role feels meaningless, if you are passionate but stuck, or if you lack purpose or are grappling with what comes next as you enter or leave college athletics, this book will become your tactical play-by-play to a life you love as you make your impact.
Personal Transformation Leadership Self-Help
About
Sydney Minarik
Author · Speaker · Mentor
Sydney Minarik has spent her life on teams. She started playing soccer at age three and went on to compete at the collegiate level for Clemson University before turning professional and signing overseas.
Along the way, she earned a psychology degree in just two years with a business minor, then completed her MBA at Clemson in 2025. A serious injury early in her athletic career — and the work she did with a sports psychologist to come back from it — sparked a lasting fascination with mindset, purpose, and how people find meaning in the roles they play.
While at Clemson, she transitioned between starting, being a game-changer, and receiving no minutes at all in a given game. With that inconsistency, and the journey through it, she realized an important truth that fuels her work today: Your worth as a person is never defined by your performance as an athlete, and your impact doesn’t have to be seen to be felt within the team. That it’s not about the size of your role; it’s about the size of your impact in that role.
Today Sydney writes and speaks about leadership, presence, and personal transformation, exploring the same themes in her newsletter, “Make Your Impact.” Her debut book carries that work further. It’s a candid look at how to serve the people around you by showing up for yourself first.
Praise
What readers are saying
Highly recommend!
“Make Your Impact strikes the perfect balance between personal memoir and inspiring self-help story. Sydney’s vulnerability allows the book to delve into important topics within mental health, college athletics, and team dynamics. I highly recommend for anyone hoping to reflect on how they can be a better teammate in their own life.”
Highly recommended!
“This is great book for anyone who wants insights on how to be a great teammate — athletes, business people, nonprofits, government employees — any place where teamwork is critical and makes a difference. … Her lessons are well beyond her age and experience. It is amazing.”
Inspiring and Informative Read!
“So proud of Sydney and all that she has accomplished! This book is so well done, very approachable and informative!”
Reviews from Amazon customers.
Media & Podcasts
Watch & listen
Conversations on soccer, mindset, and building a life of purpose — from Clemson Athletics to podcasts near and far.
Share Your Story · Podcast
How to Build Identity Beyond Performance with Sydney Minarik
Sydney talks about building confidence and self-worth that isn’t tied to results — redefining success through role changes at Clemson and playing pro in Australia.
The EmpowHER’d Athlete
Gratitude, Friendships, and Living in the Moment
Nearing graduation at Clemson, Sydney reflects on her journey, her love for her teammates, and a daily practice of gratitude and staying present.
The FootPol Podcast
From College to the Pros: Power and Pathways in Women’s Football
A candid look at the realities of elite women’s soccer — recruitment, positional change, Title IX, and the move from Division I to Australia’s National Premier League.
Beyond the Paw · Clemson Athletics
Ep. 4 — Sydney Minarik, Soccer
Sydney joins Clemson’s student-athlete podcast alongside teammates to talk soccer, friendship, and life as a Tiger.
Newsletter · Make Your Impact
Essays from the newsletter
Sydney writes regularly on leadership, mindset, presence, and building a purposeful life. Read a few favorites below — or subscribe on Substack to get new pieces in your inbox.
Connect
Follow along
Come say hello, follow the journey, and be first to hear what’s next.
Get in touch
syd@sydneyminarik.com