Elite athletes often face a lights-camera-action moment.

But Sydney Barros has been no stranger to creating her spotlight, even when life has tried to dim it.

The junior has always poured everything into her training, she said. From dance practices to tumbling at gymnastic competitions, Barros said her schedule was packed – not just by obligation, but by passion – even when it meant making sacrifices.

Barros said when she reached a higher level, she realized she had no choice but to choose between dance and gymnastics.

“Gymnastics was starting to become more serious with competitions, and I couldn’t keep up with dance anymore, so I ended up choosing gymnastics,” Barros said. “I felt like I could get the best of both worlds with gymnastics.”

Barros made the jump to elite, training at Texas Dreams Gymnastics under Kim Zmeskal-Burdette, a USA Gymnastics Hall of Famer and 1991 All-Around World Gymnastics Champion.

The spotlight on Barros was beaming.

She assisted Team USA to secure team bronze at the 2019 Junior World Championships, competed at the 2021 Winter Cup and U.S. Gymnastics Championships and clinched top-10 finishes in the all-around, bars and beam at the 2022 Winter Cup.

Barros said one of her most memorable moments came in 2019, when Olympian Laurie Hernandez, after whose style Barros had modeled her own, presented a medal to her. Barros added that the moment was especially significant because the two share Puerto Rican heritage.

But Barros was unexpectedly shaken by an ACL tear in 2022.

“It definitely made me think differently about how I go about gymnastics,” Barros said. “I was like, ‘It could never happen again, right?’ So I thought.”

Barros said she prepared to bounce back in 2023 after recovering from the injury.

She received multiple invitations beginning in 2019 to join the Puerto Rican National Team while representing Team USA. Barros ultimately joined the Puerto Rican squad in 2023.

“I didn’t feel like I had a sense of someone breathing down my neck because I felt I was doing it for a bigger purpose than myself, which obviously made me want to continue training and keep building and wanting to represent where I come from.” Barros said. “It’s still just as hard work, but it makes me feel more fulfilled.”

Barros became the Puerto Rican All-Around National Champion later that year.

Barros was recruited to join the Bruins in fall 2023 after earning a globally renowned achievement.

But the gymnast said that while she was in El Salvador during July 2023, yet another ACL tear sidelined Barros, this time impacting her other knee.

“It felt like my whole world fell apart because it was right before I went to school. … I knew I was going to have to redshirt.” Barros said. “So it just felt that much worse and that much more defeating doing it a second time because of how hard I had worked to get better.”

Coach Janelle McDonald understood the gravity of the situation and its unfavorable timing, Barros said. Barros added that the coach told her she would be just as welcomed to the team after her recovery in the spring.

“She’s been through a lot and really steadily worked to be in this place. She has this passion and this fire that she trains with,” McDonald said. “It makes me so happy for her because she just really deserves it. The work she puts in every single day over the last few years, it’s been incredible.”

The choice to postpone her entrance onto the team rather than completely abandon her opportunity with the Bruins led the then-redshirt down unforeseen yet memorable paths she said.

The quarter of rest exposed Barros to the limelight of student life in Los Angeles.

“I was somehow able to get noticed to be in a music video for Future and Metro Boomin.” Barros said. “It’s opportunities like that that make me realize every day, the more and more I train here, the more and more I get used to the UCLA culture. I couldn’t imagine myself being anywhere else.”

Barros said she has also carried her Puerto Rican heritage with her even after stepping away from competing with the team, especially on the floor. Drawn to the music and movement she grew up around, she said she has found ways to weave those influences into her floor routines.

“I’ve always loved Latin music. Being of Puerto Rican heritage, I’ve always loved salsa, merengue, bachata,” Barros said. “It just felt right to have those styles in my flour routine because of how naturally those styles of dance and everything came to me.”

The junior also created new communities with the Bruins. From reuniting with her old Texas Dreams teammate, UCLA alumnus Emma Malabuyo, to also looking up to former-upperclassmen such as alumnus Margzetta Frazier, Barros said she felt love and support as part of the Bruin family.

After the meet against Washington on Jan. 30, senior Jordan Chiles spoke on the value Barros brought to the team.

“We’ve had times where she’s doubted herself, and I’m like, ‘Girl, you deserve to be in every lineup,’” Chiles said. “You deserve (it) and you push and you push and you push.”

Barros said her physical therapist not only guided her throughout the recovery process, but also inspired her to pursue the profession.

“I always thought how interesting it was that you could come in with an injury and have it be hurting to absolute max, and then go in there and come out feeling so much better.” Barros said. “I’ve had her by my side the entire time. She’s always been super supportive of anything I wanted to do in that field post-college.”

The junior said she aspires to help athletes who share her injury-related experiences by helping them create their own spotlights even when times seem dark.

“People underestimate how hard it is to come back from it a second time. (It) is a whole different beast than just doing it once because then it starts to mess with your morale,” Barros said. “The light at the end of the tunnel for me was UCLA, and I knew I was this close to it. Why quit now?”