The first Tuesday of each month, we interview someone from Charlotte Latin Athletics with twenty questions to help the CLS community get to know some of our athletes, coaches, and supporters a bit better.

This month, meet multi-sport athlete siblings Sydney and Collins. Sydney Grogan is a junior on the fall and winter cheer squads, who also plays on the softball team. Collins Grogan is a freshman wrestler who is trying track for the first time this spring. Members of the Charlotte Latin community may also know their mom, Susan, who works in Lower School Learning Resources, and her sister, Sarah Kilby, a Middle School counselor. These Latin Lifers have grown up on campus and are fully at home here. Read on to learn more about the Grogan siblings in this month's Tuesday 20.
 
1. Collins, you have a unique name. How did it come about and how often do you get called Colin?
Collins: On my dad's side of the family, his grandmother's maiden name was Collins, so it's a family name. People call me Colin all the time. I used to get frustrated and correct them, but now I just roll with it.
 
2. Would you two say you are close as siblings?  
S: Most of the time.
C: A lot of my friends do not have very good relationships with their siblings, which makes me think ours is pretty good.
S: It's gotten better as we've gotten older. We're friends now.
C: And we've matured.
 
3. What about the family dynamic. How would you describe it?
S: I think it's very gender-divided at times.
C: My sister and my mom are best friends. And me and my dad love hanging out.
S: But it's good. My friends like to come over to our house to see my parents. Sometimes they ask to join us when we're having family dinner or doing family things together.
C: My friends see my mom and they're like, "Susannnnnnnn!"
3a. Do you think that's because they know her from Latin?
S: No, some of my friends didn't come to Latin until Middle School or Upper School, so they didn't grow up with my mom. I think it's just that some parents aren't very engaging, and our parents are very engaging. The morning after dances, my parents will be making breakfast and debriefing with me and my friends for like an hour and a half.
3b. Do you feel lucky?
S & C in unison: Yes.
 
4. Do you have any pets?  
S: Part time. Sarah's dog will come over a lot. (Sarah Kilby)
4a. Do you wish you had a pet of your own?
C: Yes.
S: I was told I was going to get a dog when I got to fifth grade, and I'm a junior in high school now, so clearly that didn't happen. I got a hamster during quarantine. He was certainly something. His name was Teddy and he could get out of his cage, jump off the dresser, and make his way downstairs. My mom loved that hamster.
Susan: He loved me!
S: He was old and started having seizures though, so I made my parents take him to the vet so he could get put down.
C: It was very sad.
 
5. As Latin Lifers, what have been your favorite or most memorable classes and teachers?
S: Probably Middle School math, because I hated math before then. I'm still not the biggest fan of math, but it's actually one of my highest grades this year. My freshman year, I had Ms. Matrejek and I loved her. Then I had Ms. Fiore, who I also loved.
C: Mine would probably be history in the Middle School because it was a fun class and I was with a lot of my friends. Ms. Dixon made history a lot more interesting to me and that ended up being one of my highest grades.
 
6. What about classes that have been the most challenging or pushed you?
S: Spanish!
C: English.
S: For me, Spanish is the hardest class. I'm in honors bio, which is definitely hard, but I can do it. With Spanish, it just doesn't click.
C: That's pretty much the same thing with me except in English. The papers never really work out. I try really hard on them and think I did good, but then the results are not there.

7. Are you involved in anything else at Latin besides academics and athletics?  
C: I'm in Students for Students and that's been pretty fun. I get to go to lunch with a new group of people I don't normally sit with and we catch up every Tuesday. It's been a good way to meet people and it's pretty fun.
S: I am in the Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC for short, representing softball) and Global Ambassadors, Baby Bundles, and Reading Buddies.
C: I used to be in orchestra. I played the viola. I had to choose between that and engineering, though, and I chose engineering.
 
8. What about outside of Latin? Do you have time to have a job or do any outside activities?  
S: It's not outside of Latin, but I work the Charlotte Latin summer camps.
Susan: And what's your favorite thing to do at camp?
S: Talk on the walkie talkies and put on the blow-up costumes.
8a. What's your camp name?
S: Squid.
8b. Why?
S: When I was younger, my friends would call me Squid or Squidney.
8c. And Collins?
C: I take taekwondo.
8d. When do you have time to do that?
C: It's at 7:30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, so I just come home, change, then head over there. It's fun and I meet new people and I'm just trying to get the black belt now.
 
9. That's a perfect segue into talking about your sports journeys. What's the first organized sport you remember doing and how did things progress from there?  
S & C: Soccer.
C: I tried soccer, then went into baseball and played that until I was like 12. I knew I was going to wrestle, so that started in sixth grade, and then I just recently started track and field. I throw the discus and the shot put.
9a. How did you 'know you were going to wrestle?'
C: The Starners are like our best family friends and I was inspired by the wrestlers at our school. (Editor's note: Stephen Starner '98, the co-Director of Facilities, is an alum of the wrestling program and an assistant coach.)
Susan: Not wrestling wasn't even an option. Jeff Wolfe (MS math teacher) was one of the first people at school to meet Collins. He held him as an infant and said, "He's going to be a Latin wrestler."
9b. What inspired you to join track this spring?
C: I really like being on a team and wanted to continue that in the spring. I knew track could be fun because I heard friends talking about it, but I didn't want to run. I thought I'd give throwing a try and the coach (Nike Ray '06) is really nice. I'd love to play golf, but our golf team is too competitive for me.
9c. Sydney?
S: I don't even know why I started softball. I think it was maybe because Collins was doing baseball, so I was already there (at MARA) and it was just easy. My dad started coaching my teams and we got close with some of the other softball families, so the dads kind of when rogue and started a travel team. I played travel with some of the same girls for years, but at a certain point you are deciding whether or not you want to pursue it in college, and it's expensive, and I never saw my school friends because I was always doing softball. So I stopped doing travel but stuck with it at school. 
9d. And cheer?
S: I've known Mrs. Atwell forever and she would always bring it up to me. Going into Upper School, I didn't join fall cheer because I wanted to be in the stands with my friends during the games, but it wasn't all that. I joined winter cheer and it was fun and the girls kept telling me I needed to do fall because it's even better. So sophomore year, I did fall cheer and I loved it. It was so fun. This is the first year I've done all three (fall & winter cheer, plus softball), so I've been in season since August first.
 
10. Collins, what do you like best and least about wrestling and track?  
C: In wrestling, the thing I like the most is the team is pretty close and we get to travel. I really like that we get to travel. What I like the least…I don't know, that's kind of hard. (Editor's prompt: I'm guessing you didn't have to cut weight?) I did! Oh yeah, that's what I like the least. I really struggled with that at the start of the season. In Middle School, I wrestled at 152 and weighed around 149. But this year, I weighed 170 and wrestled at 165, so I had to cut weight for matches. At the start of the season, I struggled so much and missed weight a lot.
10b. How'd you get the hang of it?
S: Mr. Starner yelled at him.
C: (Laughs) I have a lot of allergies, so it was challenging to find the right foods. It just took a while to figure out what to eat, but my family was very supportive and eventually I got the hang of it.
10c. And track?
C: The thing I like the most about track is probably just hanging out with everyone after practice. The thing I like the least is that the throwers get out the latest. It's usually just us and the distance runners going until 5:00. I'm used to 5:30 from wrestling, though, so it's not that bad.
 
11. Sydney, what do you like best and least about your sports?  
S: For fall cheer, I honestly don't know. Everything is awesome. I guess the one downside is that my friend group goes out to dinner together before football games, so I miss that. But my best friends will come down to the track to visit right before we start. I really like the structure and rhythm of fall cheer, and we don't have that in the winter, so I guess that's what I like least about winter cheer. It's more relaxed but there isn't really a set schedule. Softball is a lot different this year than last year, because we graduated some really good players, so that's been a challenge. And it's so far to walk to the field.
 
12. Was participating in Latin sports something you looked forward to growing up?
S: I wanted to be a cheerleader when I was in Lower School. I had so many of those cheer uniforms from the Hawk Shop.
C: I was excited to wrestle because I knew I was going to do it. I'd watch the wrestlers in the Winter Sports Showcase and it was exciting. Then in sixth grade, I remember coming in and seeing Spear (Gorelick) and Liam (McConaughy) just destroying people, even back then, and it was fun to watch.
 
13. Sydney, have you started to figure out what you're looking for in a college environment?
S: Probably big and southern. It's mostly SEC schools that I'm looking at, but I honestly don't know what I want to study. I'll have an idea and then I'll completely change my mind. The one thing I do know is that I want to work with people.
 
14.  Is there anyone that has inspired you or serves as a role model?
S: Coach Atwell. Even if I'm not in season, I'll just go to her desk and talk. And Ms. Matrejek too, even though she hasn't been my teacher for two years. If I'm in the math office, we always talk. Mrs. Walker has been great too.
C: For me, it's Coach Wolfe. It was very sad to hear that he was retiring from coaching last year. It's sad not having him in the wrestling room. And Dr. Taylor. He's always been there to help and support me.
 
15. Alright, let's finish with some fun and easy questions. What's your favorite sports movie?
S: The Sandlot.
C: Same. I love Sandlot.
 
16. What's your favorite sport to watch on TV?
S: I like to go to games, but I'm not a big watch-it-on-TV girl.
C: F1. I always watch that with my dad. Whenever it comes on, we'll stay up super late or get up super early to watch. If I lived a different life, I'd try to do that.
 
17. If you could have one real-life ability that you don't currently possess, what would it be?
C: To be able to get good grades in English.
S: To be naturally super smart.
C: And to be a race car driver.
 
18. Who's the funniest in the family?
S: Me.
C: Questionable, but sometimes. I'd say my dad or Sydney.
 
19. Who's the best cook?
C: My dad.
S: Dang. (Laughs. Looks at Susan.) You gonna take that?
C: Dad rarely cooks, but then one day he'll cook something just off the top of his head and creates something that's great.
Susan: And he uses every pot in the kitchen.
 
20.  Who's the best singer?
S: No one.
C: None of us.