Sibling Rivalries.

Kendra Wozniak

Sibling Rivalries.

Two words that expose all sibling conflicts. According to society, the older sibling must be better than the younger sibling at basically everything you can think of. In grades. In specific classes. In sports.

Sports, especially, in my family. It is ok if each sibling is in a different sport, but when one sibling joins the same sport as another sibling, the heat rises.

Ever since I was little, my sister was always the runner in the family. She would always come home from school and tell my mom that she ran a 6:05 minute mile in P.E. But in middle school, I could barely run a 9 minute mile. My mom was a runner, so she forced me to run to keep in shape for basketball and softball, but other than that, I hated running. I hated running because my sister loved it. That’s how the sibling rivalries worked in my family. I played basketball and softball. My sister ran and played soccer. I never wanted to run because I knew my sister would always beat me.

But when I became a freshman, I wanted to try running. With my sister in 7^th grade, cross country did not exist, so I would never be compared to her times. So I tried cross country. And I loved it during freshman year and sophomore year. I finally was in the top 10 of the team by the end of sophomore year which game me hope to stay better than my sister. And I had also, for the first time ever, beat my sister’s mile time. I could finally say I was better than my sister.

Then junior year came along. My sister became a freshman and she wanted to do cross country. Just like me. The rivalry heat rose. I had hoped that she would somehow not be as good at cross country as she was in track, but that didn’t happen. By the second meet, my sister had already beat me. And my older sibling goal in life had failed. My freshman sister had beat me in the only sport I am good at, cross country.

But at the end of the day, I am excited for my sister. Although I know my sister is faster than me, I am proud that is running this amazing her freshman year. She is running at state this weekend and in the top 5 for the cross country team. I am so proud to call her my sister and I wish her the best of luck at state this weekend. Go Rachel!