SK PIONEER SPORTS: Sister Act

Coach Dusty Jones has led the Lady Pioneers to the program’s first state ranking as the Pioneers appeared in the 25 slot in this week’s coach’s poll. Helping the team achieve this ranking has been what you could call the Sister Act. No, not the movie but the girls on the team. Chances are, when Coach Jones goes to insert a player into the line-up, the person he calls on is going to be a “sister” of a teammate. There are three sets of sisters altogether in his Lady Pioneer varsity line-up, which comprises nearly a third of the team. They include:

Cooper Sisters: Marie (Junior) & Jessie (Freshman)
Figgins Sisters: Junior Twins Lyndsay & Caitlyn
Russell Sisters: Krista (Junior) & Jillian (Sophomore) – Krista & Jillian also have a sister Kelsey who plays on the JV & Freshman teams.

I asked Coach Jones if there are any advantages to having three sets of sisters on a team. He indicated, “The sisters are all close and take up for each other on and off the field, and that seems to transfer over to some of the other girls at times. When one sister is down, the other one is usually picking her sister up, and having three sets of sisters can help build the team mentality.”

While there are some advantages, I asked the coach if there are some disadvantages as well. He replied, “When they fight with each other (which doesn’t happen very often), I try to separate them in drills when I can. However, when they pair up, they do seem to be a little bit more competitive (ultra competitive in some cases), which can cause frustration or a bit of a conflict. They are naturally close with one another and sometimes they gravitate to each other more instead of the team, although that doesn’t happen very often.”

Coach Jones was asked if there is anything special about having so many sisters on a team. He said, “Not really, other than one SUV can literally bring over half the team. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences between the girls, and you do get the feeling that you are interacting with families.”

I asked the coach if there is anything he has to do differently at practices with the family affair. He indicated, “With Krista and Jill, I try and keep them separate because when they go against each other, they really go at it, but other than that, not much. I just have to make sure they don’t all go too hard with each other.”

Finally, the coach was asked to describe the play of sisters in general. Here’s what he had to say, “One drives the other; if one plays hard, the other plays harder. If one is down, the other picks her sister up. They are always pushing each other to play harder. They are all physical players. Caitlyn may be the most physical person on the team, but Lyndsay is no slouch either, but it comes across differently because she is a very aggressive keeper, which allows her to be physical in a different way. The Cooper’s and the Russell’s are right there too, and are just as physical. Thinking back over the course of the season, it has seemed to me that the majority of the fouls called against the team have probably been against a sister.”

There is another pair of players on the team who are just as close as sisters. They are Ali Ponzer and Olivia Bach who are first cousins and act as much like sisters as the sisters do. Ali and Olivia's Moms are sisters Mary and Carolyn who are always sitting in the stands together.

Just so Coach Jones doesn’t feel left out of the Sister Act, his sister Melanie Cruz is the goalkeeper coach for the team.

(Incidentally, there is another Pioneer Sister Act on the JV team featuring the Landrum sisters, Chelsea, Tiffany and Lindsay.)

Jessie and Marie