Sports Special Edition: Twins in Sports
Twins are fascinating; identical twins even more so. Here are two people who look exactly alike and sometimes even do the same things together. It gets very interesting when twins play sports. Due to their genetics, it usually happens that if one twin is
good at sports, the other one will be as well; it is not always the case but it has been known to occur. There are numerous examples all around of siblings in sports. Twins are so interesting that sometimes twins will be born that have completely different
interests, and have completely different careers in their lives. Some of the twins that do play sports though can either play against each other on separate teams in the same sport, or they play the same sport together.
There are two main types of twins; fraternal with the interesting scientific name of dizygotic, and identical which are known as monozygotic. Fraternal twins are those that do not look alike but were still born at the same time. What is very interesting
is that all identical twins that play sports, sometimes have a natural competitive sibling rivalry or they work so well together that they become an unbeatable team. Parents have the difficult task of encouraging twins, when they are growing up and dealing
with jealousy, rivalry and competitiveness. It becomes hard for parents, when one twin excels at a sport and is picked for the school team, while the other gets left behind. As they get older and if they become professional athletes, identical twins that play
the same sport can fall into two categories. Either they can play on the same team or they can play on different teams. If they play on the same team, then they can work very well together and achieve great things together. On the other hand, if they play
on two different teams they might get very competitive. Most siblings have a natural rivalry and professional sports stars can experience that more than others.
A lot of examples of twins who play the same sport can be found. An example of twins who play on different teams can be seen in American football. The most famous twins in the NFL are the Barber Twins; Tiki and Ronde. Tiki Barber played for the New York
Giants and retired in 2006. Ronde played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They were both very well respected players, and it looks like they did not let their sibling rivalry get in their way because while playing they both co-authored three children’s books
and have worked on television together as well. One of the most famous pair of twins at the moment is the Bryan brothers. This fabulous duo recently won the US Open Men’s Doubles Championship defeating Aisam-Ul-Haq Quraishi and Rohan Bopanna. They rose to
tennis stardom as a very capable doubles team while they were studying at Stanford. They have been playing together since the age of 6, and have continued ever since. They held the world number 1 ranking in doubles tennis for 201 weeks and set a tennis record
by competing in seven consecutive doubles finals, three of which they won. The interesting thing about the duo is the fact that Bob Bryan is left-handed while Mike Bryan is right-handed. This allows them to dominate both sides of the court individually, and
as a team.
Being twins does not necessarily mean that a player or a team will excel at sports. However, usually if twins play together and have been doing so since they were very young, they can be better poised at the game they play. Like the Bryan twins, who have
been playing together for a long time can develop an innate sense of timing and understanding between them. It does not mean that other teams cannot develop the same skills, but it maybe that it comes more naturally to twins.
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