From Volleyball to Music: Madison Ryann Ward Praises God for ‘Dynamic’ Life

Published: February 13, 2024

From Volleyball to Music: Madison Ryann Ward Praises God for ‘Dynamic’ Life

By Movieguide® Contributor

Singer Madison Ryann Ward joined Jada Edwards’ podcast to discuss how God guided her from college volleyball to a music career.

“I’d probably say ‘dynamic,’ with the fact that just because there’s so many different things that I am interested in and different journeys that I’ve taken just in this time and especially now because I’ve got my hands in different things,” Ward said of the one word she’d use to describe her life.

Ward explained that she played many sports as a child, but she knew she could “really go pretty far with” volleyball.

“I came from a small town where I went to school, and I had just been playing volleyball for a little bit of time, and there was a club team that I wanted to play on that was in Oklahoma City, and it was like an hour and a half from where I’m from,” she recalled. “I remember at the time I was like begging my dad, like, ‘Hey, I’m serious. I’m really serious about the sport. If I can get on this team, you know, I could get a scholarship.’ [It could] change everything. I was like, ‘I’m gonna go all the way.'”

“I had to wait for a year before doing it to sort of prove that I’m serious about it and play on a different, like lower-level kind of team locally,” she added. “Something that really changed everything was eventually getting to be on that team, and there was just a focus and a determination to prove that it was worth it. It was worth the money, it’s worth the time, and then from there, that led to the looks from different schools and the scholarship offers. Which then led me to where I played volleyball in college at Oklahoma.”

Ward described that time in her life as a mile-marker because it “was a big step into a knowingness of what I could do. My capability, if I set my mind to something.”

Her time at Oklahoma also launched her music career. Billboard reported that during her fifth year of eligibility at the university, she went viral for her cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools.”

“After wrapping college, Ward decided to move to Nashville in early 2017 to try her hand at songwriting,” Billboard said.

Ward has since continued to make her mark in the music world.

“Previously signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, for which she cut the secular Beyond Me EP (2019), she has established herself as an independent artist with her own Zelda House Records, issuing a slew of singles before making her full-length debut with A New Thing (2023), a bright showcase for her commanding and understated voice,” Holy Culture Radio reported.

Along with her music, she uses her platform to point her fans to God.

“‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ ‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭27‬,” Ward posted.