There are only a few sports at the high school that siblings are on the same sports team, but the cross country team not only has a set of siblings but the team has 10 sets of siblings and step-siblings. The siblings bring a new and unique element to the team. Siblings bring a new type of competition to the team and a new atmosphere. Just like no two sets of siblings are the same, no two sets of siblings have the same thoughts and experience on the cross country team. 

All the siblings on the team have different opinions and experiences being on the same team.“I like having Camryn on the team, because she is a very unique person, as I’m sure anyone who knows her would agree,” Hannah Bodine ‘21 said. 

Each family and each person are so different that there is not one overarching experience, but overall most of the siblings enjoy running with their sibling. While most siblings do not choose to run because their siblings run, some siblings wanted to not only follow in their sibling’s footsteps but join them on the team.“I really like how Joey is on the team, the only reason I choose running in the first place was to be on the same team as him,” Tony Rao ‘23 said. 

One major part of having a sibling on the team is the competition between siblings. “We are definitely very competitive with each other but we also want each other to do well,” Camryn Bodine ‘23 said. Your sibling is an easy person to compare to and try to beat, as well as a way to create healthy competition.“We are competitive but mostly we joke about it like as a sophomore she will try to beat my times from [my] sophomore year,” Bodine said. 

Especially with siblings of the same gender, it is easy to try and beat each other or how far the other person went. “When running and a little at home [we get competitive] but it’s good-natured.”Kaite Edison ‘22 said. 

 A lot of the time it is not an outright spoken competition, just subtle and discreet, this type of competition comes with having siblings so it is natural that it translates to running. “At practice, we aren’t super competitive. We just ask to see how far the other has run or how fast they went. There isn’t an obvious competition but it’s kind of like we are both trying to one-up the other. A mutually unspoken competition,” Brynn Edison ‘21 said.

 Some siblings are not very competitive with each other and prefer to simply cheer each other on.“We are not really that competitive with each other at all,” Tony Rao said. Sometimes competition is one-sided and not shared. “We used to not be competitive but lately, he’s been getting closer to my times, but we usually forget about competing when we get home,” Joe Rao ‘21 said, disagreeing with Tony’s claim.

There are many good things about being on a team with a sibling. Rides to and from practice, someone to make sure you are ready to go when you need to, and someone to steal food and water from. It definitely adds to your relationship, besides the fact that you are spending even more time together now, siblings are someone to complain about the team, races, workouts, and runs with.

 “I’d say being on the team does strengthen our relationship because we basically run together in the same group every day,” Camryn Bodine said. On top of being able to run together, it is another subject of conversation, “At home, we’re not competitive but, we talk about running, usually complaining about how sore our legs are,” Brynn Edison said. 

Having someone to complain about running with makes actually running easier. Besides how sore your legs are on any given day, the topics of practice and races come up in conversations, “We do talk about running sometimes, usually stuff like how we did in practice or how we think we’ll do at a meet,” Tony Rao said. It also can be a topic that the entire family talks about, especially if their parents ran. “We definitely talk about running at home because we are both very committed runners, so it is a big part of our lives,” Hannah Bodine said.

Overall the good, bad, and just normal stuff of having your sibling on the team is all worth it “Because [being on the team together] it makes us friends as well as brothers,” Joe Rao said.