UA swimmer earns $10k in SEC Startup Competition

Photos and videos of Sydney Blackhurst teaching are available for download. 

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Sydney Blackhurst, a senior accounting main on The University of Alabama’s swimming and diving staff, earned first place within the SEC Startup Competition. The prize comes with $10,000 to assist develop her enterprise, Beyond Barriers Swim Foundation, which affords one-on-one adaptive swim classes for kids with persistent diseases or disabilities.

Blackhurst beat out 4 different finalists — student-athletes from the University of Arkansas, LSU and the University of South Carolina — to take first place.

The why behind Beyond Barriers

Blackhurst and a staff of volunteers created a secure house to show college students about water security, mobility, sensory enchancment and motor ability growth. They additionally construct social abilities and confidence out and in of the water

But it’s much more than that.

A lifelong swimmer, Blackhurst suffered from extreme persistent sickness in highschool and believed she would by no means get to swim, go to highschool or have a standard life. Getting again within the water modified her life.

“My family kept pushing for answers and things to try when I wanted to give up,” stated Blackhurst. “I’m grateful for that because I got to where I could swim again and I didn’t want to keep that victory for myself.”

Through hospital stays and physician visits, she noticed what different mother and father with youngsters with diseases and disabilities have been dealing with. It moved her to discover a means to assist.

“Being around different kinds of kids and also knowing the therapy aspects of swimming is really where Beyond Barriers comes in,” she stated. “Swimming has always had a place in my heart and I believe everyone should be able to get in the water.”

Multilevel impression

Blackhurst plans to place the $10,000 towards a streamlined on-line system the place donors, volunteers and oldsters can discover all the pieces in a single place to spice up their presence and develop the inspiration.

“I hope to expand our network of donors so we can help more kids,” she stated. “The more funding we have, the more ways we can reach students. And we are currently working on adding a new location.”

Beyond Barriers Swim Foundation at present has websites in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Athens, Georgia; Tucson, Arizona and coming quickly to Jacksonville, Florida.

Dive deeper into the Beyond Barriers Swim Foundation and see who and the way they serve on the foundation’s website.

About the SEC Startup Competition

SEC Startup is a pitch competitors the place SEC student-athletes current their enterprise concepts and plans to a panel of judges throughout a televised program in partnership with Regions Bank. Meet this 12 months’s different finalists and study extra in regards to the competitors on the SEC Startup website.