Jaco's Legacy

For my second feature story on an SCF athlete, I chose one with a legacy in volleyball: Sydney Jaco. We decided to meet up in a quiet place at the SCF Cafeteria and before we even started, I was nervous to do a story when she was the one that was nervous, but I did tell her that her older sister would probably be a little jealous, which we had a good laugh.

Jaco, a sophomore biology major and local product from Braden River High School named team captain, plays libero for the Manatees and has made marks in her own backyard with a strong bloodline in her family background.

How you might ask? Well to start it off, her father, David, was a professional heavyweight boxer who faced many bigs names like Mike Tyson and George Foreman while following the footsteps of her older sister, Brittany, an SCF alum that played two seasons for the Manatees (2013-14) while finishing with 832 career digs.

"My sister started middle school volleyball, and around the time we had a volleyball net in our backyard and that's how the Jaco family got into the volleyball life," said Jaco.

After completing her time at Braden River, while also playing for the club volleyball teams MAV, Coastline, & Wave, Jaco enrolled at SCF and despite not getting any offers to play collegiately, she got a strong connection to play on the volleyball team as a walk-on.

"By the time I was a sophomore or junior (at Braden River) I was in contact for a while with the assistant coach last year, Billie Timmons," said Jaco on enrolling at SCF. "So I thought 'I enroll at SCF, just like my sister did, play some volleyball there' in which I did try out and if I didn't make it, I'd still enroll as a student and that's what persuaded me to go."

"I didn't realize stats until the Pensacola Tournament last year and realized I was in second or third place at the time when it was early in the season and didn't know about 'digs' until I looked at my sister stats when she played."

Brittany finished her sophomore campaign with 555 digs before transferring to Barry University (NCAA DII). At the Pensacola Tournament last season, Jaco had a combined 126 digs in four matches.

"When I looked at her stats, I was like 'oh she only has 550 digs; I can do that' and from that day on, when I was in a match, it kind of pushed me to do better when I said 'you need digs these matches' because there's always that sister competition where I would be so close and say 'I can do it and beat her record'."

Low and behold last season, Jaco did in her freshman campaign as she finished with 784 digs (7.06 digs per set). In fact, the 784 digs were the second-highest not just in the Suncoast and in NJCAA Region 8, but in the nation as she finished behind Vincennes' Allison Ruddick (848 digs) while her digs per set was the highest in the nation.

"It was something I worked hard for," said Jaco on her freshman stats. "I never gave up, especially during games where I didn't play my best and what I could have done better in and you never really let that hold you back and just keep pushing to do her best.

Jaco also has her share of memorable moments from several matches such as a win over Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) in the Miami Dade Tournament last season to doing things outside of volleyball like watching scary movies.

"Last year we did a lot of movie nights where we'd go to someone's apartment and watch something like Scooby-Doo and enjoy the time we had with each other while getting along so well," said Jaco on doing stuff outside of volleyball.

In her first year at SCF, Jaco said she was feeling nervous while playing on a whole new team with many different faces from all over the world, but continued to push herself as she kept playing.

It was very scary at first," said Jaco on the new team adjustment. "I grew up a lot with club seasons where you get put on a team with people you don't know at all, which I have my experiences with. But this time, it was very different because it wasn't from people in my area, especially with internationals."

Jaco did have one close ally her freshman year in Emily Sauceda, who came from Sarasota High School.

"I don't think I've ever known or gotten close to someone that's from a different country and the bonds you form with them are very scary," said Jaco on teaming with Sauceda. "I was thankful enough to kind of know Emily (Sauceda) because she's from Sarasota and I played a couple of times with her, and that helped me out in the beginning when you find people you know and bond together like a family which becomes completely normal"

Throughout her two years at SCF, Jaco is a five-time FCSAA Defensive Player of the Week, one time NJCAA Defensive Player of the Week was named to the FCSAA and Suncoast All-Academic teams and the FCSAA 25 Dig Club 17 times, which includes five this season.

When I mentioned her 1,000th career dig in the match against Webber International JV (NAIA), Jaco said that didn't realize it at the moment because they were not hitting to her often and then said to "I wonder how you found out about that?" We had a good laugh about that.

Jaco's plans are to still try and play volleyball collegiately and possibly even further, but her back up plan is to go to medical school and play volleyball on the side while potentially planning to travel as part of one of big things she wants to do.

Jaco has brought a big part of a legacy from her family to SCF after taking over for Brittany, and I'm very glad to have seen her play and do a story on a phenomenal player like herself. Wherever Jaco's journey takes her, whether it's in the medical field or on the volleyball court (indoor or beach), her journey with SCF may be coming to a close but it is far from over where the wind will take her.