On a personal note… Most of the time when a family has a pair of brothers, sisters, or a brother-sister combo, they end up having interests in different areas. Like in the case of my twin sister and me: Brianna enjoys writing stories, doing makeup and playing piano, where I like playing golf, video games and watching football.

Well, in the case of the Dirks and the Masuts, soccer is something that both sister duos enjoy taking part in. “I have been playing soccer all of my life since I was three, and when I was in the sixth grade and my sister was a freshman, I was the ball girl for the games,” said ninth grader Rachel Dirks who is the younger sister to senior Rebecca Dirks. “When we are on the field we treat each other as teammates and we try to leave all of our problems at home but, normally when one of us gets hurt we help each other up.”

Older sister Rebecca can confirm her sister’s feelings about their relationship on the field. “It’s kind of both because on the field we treat each other as teammates but, if she gets hurt on the same side of the field that I am on, I want to go over to that person who knocked Rachel down and get back at her and be like, ‘hey, get off my sister! Don’t touch her.’”

The competitive environment that comes with being on the soccer field has strengthened the relationship between Rachel and Rebecca. “Caring,” said Rachel “She cares even though sometimes she doesn’t show it, she does care.” Rebecca calls her sister “Energetic, because she is always talking to everybody and she has a bubbly personality; she always has to be somewhere or talking to someone and she is always helping people out.” Being in the stressful world of high school sports can prove to be a challenge to any relationship. “Rachel has grown to expect one tone of voice from me and so when I tell her something is a different tone she will take it the wrong way even though I didn’t mean that way.” Rachel Dirks plans to carry soccer on into her future. “I plan to become a professional soccer player, and to do that I want to get a full scholarship to a school and hopefully play for them and then get noticed by the U.S. Olympic team and play for them.” Rebecca does not share her sister’s interest for playing pro soccer. “I don’t plan on playing college soccer because it would be a lot of work to play soccer and do school work at the same time.”

The other set of sisters on the pitch for Osceola are the Masut sisters Lydia and Sophia. When the cleats go on, the Masuts treat each other as both sisters and teammates. “While on the field, I don’t like yelling at her, honestly, and also if I do not treat her like a teammate, then I fear she will screw up and then not really think much about it,” said older sister Lydia Masut. “Sophia has been friends with Rachel Dirks forever and I have been friends with Rebecca for a long time so it’s not much different playing with them,” said Lydia. When both Masuts were asked about their counterparts, they had different things to say about each other.

“Stupid,” answered Lydia with a smile. “She (Sophia) just says the stupidest stuff but she’s actually really school-smart, but no common sense.”

“My sister is funny,” said younger sister Sophia Masut. Both of the Masuts share a favorite moment while on the field. “When Sophia scored her first goal for varsity,” said Lydia.

“My favorite moment was when I scored my first goal; we were happy together,” said Sophia. Through tough times the Maust sisters are there for each other. “Being in a competitive environment has actually made us closer in a way because we are together more so we rely on each other more than we used to,” said Lydia. “Since she has entered high school we have grown closer.”