Any aspiring athlete hopes to play college sports, but imagine playing that sport with your sibling at a collegiate level. Sisters Summer and Jade Clarke get to experience that for one year at LSU.
Summer is a senior and a former four-star recruit from British Columbia, Canada.
Jade, her younger sister by two years, is a freshman and former two-star recruit.
The two have never played together before this season.
“I remember when I found out she decided to come here, when she committed and everything, people would ask me, ‘Oh, so your sister’s coming. How is she?’ and I’ve been here for four years so I hadn’t seen her play in a long time,” Summer said.
As of late September, Jade has surpassed all expectations that her big sister had.
“Oh, definitely,” Summer said. “It shows in her minutes playing. She came in feeling it out and now she’s starting and playing 90 minutes each game. She’s really doing well.”
To Jade, the experience is one to remember both as a sister and as a soccer player.
But her older sister acts, well, like most older siblings.
“She can be a bit much sometimes,” Jade said. “But playing alongside her on the field, having her be a role model, it’s great.”
LSU coach Brian Lee saw a lot of the same skills Summer possesses in Jade’s game during recruitment, thus leading LSU to bring Jade onto the team.
“It’s always a positive sign when the older kid is a kid of great character and a hard worker,” Lee said. “Generally that’s family oriented so you can feel confident that younger sister has good values and a good work ethic. We certainly felt comfortable about all those things with Jade because of Summer.”
This season may be bittersweet for the siblings, but the sisters seem not to want it any other way.
“It’s a little sad, but [Summer] she’s moving on doing better things,” Jade said. “I can take over for her hopefully.”