Sydney Carter Sticks Up for Dymes Around the World
Texas A&M assistant coach Sydney Carter turns heads on the sidelines for every Aggie game and has a flair for the dramatic. The former pro player returned to her alma mater as a coach in 2019.
Have you seen Coach Carter? I’m not talking about the movie with Samuel L. Jackson. No, I’m speaking of second-year Texas A&M assistant coach Sydney Carter. Well, if you hadn’t heard of Carter before this week’s hot pink pants controversy that some idiot started on social media, you better learn quick.
Carter was a member of the 2011 Texas A&M National Championship team. She played professionally for a few years and was drafted by the WNBA’s Chicago Sky in the second round. After retiring from basketball in 2019, she got into coaching and landed back at her alma mater, where she is currently responsible for player development and assisting in coordinating recruiting efforts. But that’s not what this story is about.
Sydney Carter is also fine as a glass of Pinot noir. She is known as we called growing up a “Dyme.” A woman who is so physically beautiful men see her as a perfect 10. All women are beautiful in their own way, but God and their parents gave Dymes a gene that 90% of the rest of us don’t have. And while that is a blessing in general, it can also be a curse. Here are some examples of what Dymes have to deal with:
· Not being taken seriously for their brain.
· Unwanted attention from men and/or women who don’t understand the word no.
· Jealous females from all walks of life.
· Stereotyped that their lives are easy.
· Not being able to just walk into a crowded room in peace without drawing attention.
· Being judged unfairly harsh when they make mistakes.
· Men seeing them as just a trophy piece and not seeing the person behind the pretty face.
· Walking down the street and having to listen to all sorts of disrespectful comments directed towards them.
· Assumed they are gold diggers.
· People assume they are stuck up.
· People assume they got the promotion at work because of their beauty.
This stylish outfit Coach Carter wore on Feb. 6 in Kentucky started a controversy.
The list could go on and on but you get the point. Carter wore an APPROPRIATE white turtle neck and fitted hot pink pants to a game against the University of Kentucky on Feb. 6th as a part of a Breast Cancer Awareness promotion at UK. Fellow Aggie coach Kelli-Bond White and other coaches from both teams also added some pink in their outfits for the awareness campaign. But it was Carter who got all of the attention for no other reason than because she is a Dyme, who wore pants and a top that showed off her God-given, well-earned by working in training room curves.
Carter and I spoke about her style of dress even before the season started. She appeared on my “What’s Up Cuz?!” podcast with my co-host and cousin Lance Irvin back in November of 2021. Sydney Carter talks fashion on "What's Up Cuz?!" We asked her about her fashion sense and fingernail game.
“My nails have their own Instagram page. I just ordered 30 new wardrobes for the season because everyone thinks I’m so extra,” Carter said with a laugh. “I don’t like to wear the same thing twice. Anything you saw last year; you probably won’t see this year.”
Carter was also asked what type of fashion advice she gives her players seeing that the NCAA now allows players to profit from their name, image and likeness.
“I talk about them branding themselves in general. What type of product are you putting out? How do you want to be seen?” Carter said.
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair poses with Sydney Carter during an ugly Christmas sweater game in 2021 at Reed Arena. Blair once convinced Carter she should not try to appear in the ESPN Body Issue, even though Carter was already a bikini model. Sorry Gary, we gonna have to disagree with you on that play call. Carter would be great. Someone call ESPN.
She also said while in college, she wanted to be in the ESPN Body Issue but that her coach Gary Blair talked her out of it. I don’t disagree with Blair much, but he missed on this one. Carter in the ESPN Body Issue would have been spectacular and would have helped promote healthy body images.
When she first got into the WNBA, Carter was a bikini model and considered that career in addition to basketball. So, nobody should be surprised of her fashion choices now as a coach. They are classy, creative, beautiful and truth be told, Cover Girl, L’Oréal’, Style Magazine and others in the fashion industry are missing out by not adding Carter to their list of brand ambassadors.
Carter isn’t the first female coach to be recognized on the sideline for her beauty and fashion sense. Former UCONN assistant coach Jasmine Lister nearly broke the internet 2016 with a fitted dress she wore on the sidelines of an ESPN televised game.
As a journalist who worked the National Pro Fastpitch and WNBA beat for over five years when I was single, I told my male friends all the time some of the most beautiful women I ever met were female athletes. I was surrounded by Dymes at these games and it never bothered me a bit. Hell, it made the job more fun to work. What man wouldn’t want to interview Skylar Diggins, Trena Peel, Liz Cambridge, Jennie Finch, Nneka Ogwumike.
Even before I became a reporter, growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I saw Dymes everywhere. I attended Lindblom and Luther South high schools where there were Dymes in the hallways and classrooms all over the place. Being in that environment allowed me to appreciate the beauty of Black women and more importantly see what they go through on a daily basis. The bad and sometimes dangerous relationships they were in with men, often men who were too old to be hitting on teen girls who were developed like grown women. I got to witness many of my Dyme friends struggling to accept their physical beauty, some even trying to downplay it just so they wouldn’t’ draw much attention to themselves. The tying of a sweater around their waist to try and distract attention from their hips and ass. The wearing of tops two sizes too big if they had more developed breasts. Limiting makeup choices or using their hair to cover their face. Life ain’t easy for teen and young adult Dymes who are learning to accept themselves for who they are and be comfortable with it.
Sydney Carter responded to her haters with the full support of her team, who imitated her swag walk Thursday, as she led the Aggies onto the court against Vanderbilt at Reed Arena.
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about body-shaming. The musician Lizzo has had to deal with an inordinate amount of this from other celebrities and the public in general. While Lizzo seems to be in a good place now, her public struggle with having to defend her choices of outfits has been gut-wrenching to watch. Body-shaming is all encompassing and it doesn’t matter your gender, race, size or level of physical beauty. Some people just gonna hate no matter what.
I’m proud of what Sydney Carter did. Hopefully the controversy got more people talking about how we can defeat breast cancer, something that touches us all. I’m really happy with the support she got from her team and Texas A&M University as she led the team onto the floor against Vanderbilt.
Sydney didn’t run. Sydney didn’t hide. Sydney did what any CHAMPION would do. She came back the next game and slayed again, this time in what appeared to be a beautiful, cream, miniskirt with matching long-sleeved top.
Keep on serving Sydney with your fine self. The Dymes and women of the world in general say thank you.