The tattoo on Lindsay Vera’s wrist reads, simply,”SMV 4:09.” The small black lettering is not more than two inches long and a half an inch wide, running along the base of her palm.
The etched-ink letters face her so she can read them whenever she looks down at the underside of her wrist.
The initials stand for “Stefanie Michelle Vera,” and the numbers refer to the time Stefanie was born. Stefanie Vera is Lindsay Vera’s fraternal twin sister. Stefanie has a matching tattoo with Lindsay’s initials and time of birth.
Lindsay Vera, a junior forward majoring in sports management, said she is closer to her twin sister than anyone else in the world. Family is of the utmost importance to her.
“I love telling people about my family,” Vera said. “[The tattoo is] just something special. She’s the closest person to me in the world.”
Vera loves talking about her family because of the unusual make-up. First, there are eight children in all, including two sets of twins.
“[People] don’t believe me, and they don’t believe it’s with the same parents,” she said. “It’s all twins in that family. The other four siblings are my half-brothers and half-sisters, but since we all grew up together, I never think of them that way. It’s just brothers and sisters. I love having a big family.”
Vera is older than her sister by three minutes, she said, and college is the first time they’d ever been separated. Stefanie currently works in Vera’s hometown of Houston.
When Vera saw her sister over Christmas break last year, she said they decided to do something special: get the tattoo.
“It was the first time I’d seen her since summer,” she said. “We had to do something so we could always have something and just have it. It’s funny because every time I look at it I do think about her. It’s fun to think about all our little stories. It’s a nice thing we have to keep us closer while we have to be apart.”
Vera’s roommate, junior midfielder Tami Krzeszewski, said she and Vera talk about Vera’s sister all the time.
“That’s the hardest thing about Lindsay being here,” Krzeszewski, a social work major, said. “She grew up with her, and they’ve been best friends forever. Now, they’re separated at the hardest time of their lives.”
Coach Laura Kerrigan said it’s obvious how close of a relationship Vera has with her twin sister.
“Lindsay’s funny,” Kerrigan said. “She does an impression of her sister. It’s hilarious.”
Krzeszewski said the impersonation is especially funny because Vera and her sister aren’t identical twins.
“It’s just funny because her twin sister looks nothing like her, but she still gets it,” she said. “I can’t explain it, but it’s definitely something to see.”
Kerrigan said Vera is one of the funniest people on the team. Kerrigan said she was talking to some of the injured players on the bench prior to the Red and White game, and she told them if they ever needed to be cheered up, talk to Vera.
“She’s one of the funniest people you’ll ever meet,” Kerrigan said.
Kerrigan said Vera will also have to serve as a leader on the team, which features 13 freshmen and only three upperclassmen: Vera, Krzeszewski and lone senior Jessica O’Rourke.
“It’s been up to me, Jess and Tami to stay on everyone and keep everyone focused,” Vera said. “If you’re going to be negative, don’t do it around your teammates. It’s already helped so much.”
Kerrigan said the lack of negativity is an example of Vera’s leadership.
“She brings a positive attitude to everything,” she said. “She’s always saying, ‘Sure, we can beat this team,’ or ‘Sure, I can take on all these players at once.’ It’s important to have veterans like Lindsay on the team.
“She’s a very dangerous player on the attack. Our players know it, and the players on the other team know it.”
Vera is coming off a season in which she was named second team All-ACC. She said one of her personal goals is to repeat or improve her all-conference placement.
“I’m really trying to get higher each year,” Vera said. “I’ve just got to work hard and train. Team goals cover just about everything else.”
Vera said the team has gotten plenty of motivation from a preseason talk Kay Yow gave.
“It helped so much, knowing what she’s been through personally and with her team,” she said. “The words meant so much more coming from her than if they had come from anyone else on the team. It was about total commitment. The things you do on the weekend affect your practice during the week, which affects the games at the end of the week.”
