If you have been to any basketball games at Splendora High School this year, you may think you’re seeing double. You’re not! It’s understandable though since there are six sets of twins.
In a program where there are only 65 athletes in both the girls and boys programs, having 12 athletes who are part of a set of twins is pretty extraordinary. Even more remarkable, both head coaches have twins themselves. Girls Head Coach Oscar Kendall has twin girls, Ryan and Erin, who are juniors at Splendora High School. Boys Head Coach Jason Vela has girl/boy twins, Jenna and Joey, who are freshmen at Kingwood Park High School.
The twin numbers grew when Jaquelin and Jannet Reyes and Zoe and Maci Surber joined the basketball program as freshmen. The team’s sophomores Ian and Lucas Ferrari Johnson even have younger twin siblings in junior high. The oldest, seniors Jordan and Adam Carter and Shelby and Shayla Keck, bring the set of twins number to six.
When asked what it’s like to be a twin playing b-ball, Jordan and Adam simultaneously said, “We’re always being compared!” Both agreed they are competitive and that they compare how each other played on the court.
Shelby and Shayla Keck talked about the benefits.
“We know what each other is thinking on and off the court,” said Shayla. “And we always have someone to play one-on-one with!” added Shelby.
Both coaches weighed in on what it was like coaching and fathering twins. Coach Vela spoke of the bond his own twins have and seeing it in the twins in the basketball program.
“It has been a pleasure to watch the bond between Adam and Jordan Carter the past four years. They are both outstanding kids with very high character. They both love sports and you just get a sense that they have always had a close bond,” said Vela. “Lucas and Ian are two kids that just love the game of the basketball. They are both in their happy place when they are in the gym. In just the two years we have had them it has been so much fun to watch them grow in their different ways. They love to compete against each other but at the end of the day I always see the love and the bond they have for one another.”
Coach Kendall added, “It is truly amazing to have this many sets of twins in our program. What a blessing for me, not only to have two of my own in the program, but also to be involved with the others. For those who hear about the magical bond between ‘twins’ but have never been around them or seen how they work together, they would be taken aback. It is remarkable to watch during practice and competition when they get in a groove and everything starts to flow. You see a connection between them that works, just like finishing ones’ sentences. They are fierce competitors who push each other to become better at the game, while at the same time, they are each other’s strongest supporter.”
So catch a game or two this year! Click here to see the basketball schedules.