Siblings are a pair, and in sports, they’re more common than you would expect. When you look at the different sports that Hazen High School has to offer, you normally can find one or two sibling pairs per sport. There are siblings who are the same and siblings who couldn’t be more different. They all have their unique personalities and quirks that make them different from their siblings, but at the end of the day, they are still connected.
Kenyon and India Andrews are a talented pair of siblings. India is a senior who plays soccer, basketball, and runs track. Her younger brother, Kenyon, runs track and plays basketball. She started playing basketball when she was in around second grade and started running track at the age of five. Sometimes, she finds it difficult being in the same sport as her brother because of the skill difference between them when it comes to basketball and track. She finds that she is sometimes compared to her brother, although she still loves being in the same sports as him because as she said “he’s my brother.” Kenyon started track because it was a family sport that both his parents ran when they were younger meaning that it was pushed upon him. For basketball, it has always been a part of his life. He’s always been playing basketball and his parents even say that he “came out of the womb playing basketball.” While his sister did not influence him to start these sports, she has always been there to support her brother and cheer him on. He absolutely loves playing the same sports as his sister, because he loves to be warming up in Hazen’s upper gym and see his sister on the court, or when he finishes a race being able to come and watch her run her race.
Erika Mills and Marilynn Mills are sisters who both play volleyball. Marilynn Mills is a senior who has played volleyball since she was thirteen years old. She started with volleyball because she needed a sport, and slowly grew to love it. Marilynn adores playing the same sport as her sibling because both girls are able to understand each other’s success and struggles. They’re able to coach each other, and Marilynn will always know that she has someone to pass the ball with. Sometimes the girls can have off days, and with their competitive spirits, it can make things difficult. But at the end of the day, Marilynn knows her number one fan is her sister.
Erika Mills started playing in around sixth grade and found that she also started playing volleyball because she was in need of a sport. Watching her big sister play the sport, her desire to play volleyball grew. She loves to play the same sport because she always has a practice partner, and has someone to coach her through any hardships she faces in the games.
The Tat siblings are a pair like no other. Kyle, is a senior who started playing baseball at around four years old whilst Alyssa started playing soccer around kindergarten, because she found it was one of the sports that she connected the best with. Baseball was his fathers favorite sport, and so naturally he was introduced to the sport. Sometimes he wishes that he could play the same sport as her, but even now he tries to go and kick the ball around. Kyle doesn’t personally love the sport, but his sister is incredible at the sport, so making an effort to watch her is worthwhile. Sadly both sports are year round for the siblings, so it is hard for either of them to make it to the other’s games. While she enjoys having her own individual things, there are moments where she wishes that she could play the same sport as her brother, so that they may have another way to bond beside academics. Even though their schedules don’t always line up, they try to still support each other as much as they can.
The goal for these two siblings is to make sure no goals are scored on their team. Kaylyn and Jackson Updyke both play soccer and take pride in being a goalie. Kaylyn has been playing soccer ever since she could remember, and she slowly came to love being in goal. She loves the fact that her brother plays the same position as her, and takes pride in the fact that he started to play goalie because she inspired him. Jackson started at a young age, and has always wanted to be a goalie ever since watching his sister fall in love with the sport. While both siblings are extremely competitive with each other, they find understanding with each other knowing that the other has also experienced a bad or good game, and knows what the mindset is like.
Else and Austin Davis are your classic football cheer duo. Elsa is a junior who’s been doing cheer ever since the beginning of highschool, and decided to do the sport because of a mini cheer camp. Sometimes she wishes they played the same sport whether it be soccer or basketball, but she also knows that it’s good to be an individual from your sibling and have your differences. They both give amazing amounts of support to each other, which is one of the things that keeps them together. Austin on the other hand is a sophomore who plays for both JV and varsity. He’s liked the game of football ever since he was around five years old, and started to play the game because of his fathers influence to play football. Austin thinks that his sister being on the cheer team is awesome, and he loves to be able to support her.
You’ve heard of student pairs, but now we have a teacher pair! Gorav and Angad Singh are two brothers who both ran cross country and soccer. Mr. Singh is a teacher here and a graduate of the 2016 class, while his brother graduated from Hazen in 2013. Both siblings were put in sports as early as they possibly could. The brothers have similar stories when it comes to sports, they ran cross country because of running track in middle school and playing soccer the earliest he could. Angad came to love the fact that his brother was in the same sports as him, but when both brothers were younger he definitely saw Mr. Singh as the annoying younger brother. Mr. Singh played a large variety of sports when he was younger like swimming, basketball, baseball, and lots of other sports but when it came to soccer that was the one he loved the most. It was nice for Mr. Singh coming into high school to have an older brother on the team because it made it easier to get involved with the team. Both brothers were compared, and extremely competitive with each other but that didn’t stop either of them from being incredible athletes.
