Twins play games on, off court
It's April 1 and Alyssa and Karyssa Callender are hatching a mischievous plot.
It's not the first. It won't be the last.
A select few of the sisters' friends are in on the scheme. Their cohorts serve as field operatives, running interference for their nefarious plot.
The Callender sisters are identical twins, from their red hair to their brown eyes, right down to their stocky build.
It makes it easy to launch outrageous stunts like the one they are perpetrating on April Fool's Day.
It's like a scene from a sitcom, or a storyline from a Hollywood comedy.
Alyssa will become Karyssa and Karyssa will morph into Alyssa — for one school day, at least.
They walk into each other's classes, answer to each other's name — as long as the friends who are in on the plot smack them on the arm to keep them in character. They act like their alter ego in an attempt to fool their school.
Why do they do it?
"Because," Alyssa says, laughing, "it's hilarious."
And sometimes it works.
Three times when the Karns City HighSchool juniors were in grade school, they attempted the stunt. Twice they were caught.
But in the sixth grade, they made it through a school day as the other sister.
Mary Kate and Ashley, eat your heart out.
"We went out and had ice cream after to celebrate," Alyssa said.
The Callender sisters revel in their creativity and their penchant for keeping their teachers, coaches and friends guessing.
And they are not alone.
There are six sets of twins playing high school basketball in the Butler County area, and all keep their coaches on their toes.
The Callender sisters are joined by Slippery Rock freshmen Karly and Kourtney Rhoads, Union seniors Meagan and Heather Booth, Moniteau seniors Amy and Amanda Gladd, Mars juniors Justin and Brandon Stadelmyer and Karns City seniors Mike and Matt McConnell.
But the Callender sisters have the market cornered on twin antics.
"We're always thinking of stuff to do," Karyssa said.
"We try to be creative with it," Alyssa adds.
But beneath their similar looks and love of a perfectly planned gag, they have striking differences on and off the court.
Alyssa has a nickname that sets her apart from her sister."They call her '2-fiddy,'" Karyssa said. "I don't know why. I guess because she can bench press 250 pounds."It's not the only thing that sets the twins apart.Alyssa is no stranger to the weight room and isn't shy about mixing it up on the court. Karyssa prefers the finesse part of the game.Alyssa hounds opponents on defense. Karyssa handles the ball and shoots better on offense.The differences go far beyond their play on the court."Oh, we are completely different," Alyssa said. "I'm more tomboyish. She's more girlie."That's the primary way Karns City girls basketball coach Dave Kerschbaumer can tell them apart."We do drills in practice and they go after each other more than anyone else," the coach said. "They are both very aggressive, but they have different styles that helps me figure out who is who."Moniteau High School seniors Amy and Amanda Gladd are not identical twins — they are fraternal. Of the six sets of twins, they look the least alike."A lot of people don't realize we are twins," Amy said.They are also very different under the skin.Amy plays inside. Amanda is more of a shooting threat from the outside.Their differences sometimes lead to friction at home and at practice."I'm kind of more aggressive," Amy said. "We've always been competitive, and it gets kind of rough."We always want to play better than the other one. We just want to make each other better."The Gladd sisters are in a unique position on their team. They are the two leading scorers and the two players Moniteau girls basketball coach Mark Yeager relies on the most.One day, while watching them bang away on each other mercilessly in practice, he blew his whistle and pulled the two aside."I have to have a talk with them every now and then," Yeager said. "I have to remind them to save that aggression for the opponent, not each other."Sometimes it is hard to do that for the Gladd sisters. Sometimes, their competitive natures just take over."I have to tell them to channel it. They just grew up like that," Yeager said.
Karly and Kourtney Rhoads are not identical twins. However, they certainly look the part.They also have the uncanny ability to mimic each other.When the sisters were little, they liked to color like any children.Sitting at two different tables, they would often color the same thing with the same color crayons, said the sisters' mother, Melinda Rhoads. "When they were real little, they would lay in their cribs with the same arm over their head."Those similarities have remained as they have grown.They said they like the same movies with a few exceptions. They like the same music and they like the same sports.While other twins, like the Gladd sisters, are ultra-competitive with each other, the Rhoads twins are "just two peas in a pod," Melinda said."We really like each other," Karly said. "People think we fight a lot. But we don't. We like the same things and we have a lot of things we talk about."There are some differences though, but they can mostly be seen on the basketball court.Kourtney is a better shooter. Karly is a better ball handler and passer and is scoring nearly 10 points per game.That's one of the ways Slippery Rock coach Adrienne Orris can tell them apart — that and Karly is two inches taller than Kourtney."As long as they were playing (I could tell them apart,)" Orris said. "But if I saw them separate, it took me a few weeks."How to tell twins apart is an age-old problem and one on which many sitcoms have been built.Telling the twins apart can be just as perplexing for their coaches.
Union girls basketball coach Josh Meeker needs a sub.He shoots a quick look down the bench, points at a player and tells her to go in.Out on the court trots Heather Booth, a 5-foot-1 guard.There's only one problem. Meeker intended to put her twin sister, Meagan Booth, into the game."I look out on the court and say, 'Wait, I meant to put the other one in.'" Meeker said, laughing.The last time it happened was in a double-overtime game againstSlipperyRock inDecember.Heather had spent the entire game on the bench. Then, unexpectedly, Meeker told her to go into the game during the second overtime."I said, 'Who? Me?'" Heather said.Meeker quickly nodded and in went Heather, who was convinced he wanted to put Meagan into the game instead."Well, I don't know what coach would put someone into the game for the first time in the second overtime," Heather said.It's easy for Meeker to mix the two up. The Booth sisters don't make it easy on him.They often show up to practice wearing the same style of T-shirt and the same color shorts."I think they do it on purpose," Meeker said. "I think they do it to mess with our heads.""Nah," Meagan says."It's not on purpose," she adds with a snicker. "It just happens that way."The two also have had a strong urge to switch jerseys during a game, but have never followed through with it.Fittingly, the Callender sisters have."Oh, yeah, we want to fake the other team out sometimes," Karyssa said. "(Alyssa) wants me to go in for her to play offense. We want to run some trick plays."The two almost did the switcheroo during a game last season.Alyssa was in foul trouble and approached Karyssa with the idea of switching jerseys so she could re-enter the game with a clean slate.But the coaching staff caught wind of their plot and put a quick halt to it."They wouldn't let us do it," Alyssa said, with a tinge of disappointment in her voice. "Maybe we'll try again someday."
