Addy Gilbert | Staff Intern for the Dells City Journal
The Garretson/Dell Rapids soccer team has started their 2021 fall season. The team has five sets of sisters involved in the program this year. There are sisters from both Dell Rapids Public school and Garretson High school.
The first sister pair is a coach and a player combination. Riley Altman is a Garretson alumnus and has taken on the role of helping coach the Blue Dragons this year. Raegan Altman is her younger sister and will be on the field for her junior season this year.
“I’d say getting coached by my sister doesn't bother me at all,” Raegan says. “I don’t look at her as my sister when it comes to practice, if she tells me something I'll just listen and still react to her as any other coach.” They both expressed that they are competitive with each other even now as Riley is a coach.
“I think my favorite part of coaching is seeing the different aspects of it and also being there for Raegan’s final seasons,” says Riley.
There are two more sets of sisters that are from Garretson as well. Kylie and Mia Christensen are usually split up due to Kylie playing on varsity and Mia plays most of the junior varsity game.
“My favorite part is that if I need help figuring something out later, I am able to ask Kylie and she will help me out,” says Mia.
Alyssa and Meiah Olson are also sisters. Alyssa is the oldest and she enjoys helping her sister learn more about soccer. They are also very competitive with each other.
The last two sets of sisters are from Dell Rapids. Paige Sterud is a senior and will have her last season with Joely Sterud, her sister who is a freshman, this year. Paige expressed that she is so grateful for her high school soccer career with her sister and that it has brought them closer through the past years, from jamming to music before games, to rolling out their sore muscles, and being able to drive together to practice every day.
“We are probably the most competitive people you will meet,” says Paige. She explained that no one wants their younger sister to beat them.
“I’ve always looked up to Paige so to be able to play with her truly feels unreal,” says Joely.
The last sisters are Miriam and Kirti Pickard. Like most of the sisters, they are very competitive. Kirti recalled a time when they were running to Devil’s Gulch and the one thing that was motivating her to run fast was that she wasn't going to let her sister beat her.
“There are times when our coaches purposely put us on opposite teams,” says Miriam. Miriam's favorite moment from this season was when Kiriti scored off an assist from her during their game against Huron.
Their Head Coach, Amber Williamson, does a drill where the sole purpose is to push the teammate off of the ball. She had all the sisters go against each other once. Miriam said it all made them put in a little extra effort because none of them wanted to lose to their sister.
The team has had 2 wins and 4 losses so far this year.
Latest games were Aug. 26 against Sioux Falls Christian, with a loss of 1-3. They won their last home game handily on Aug. 28 against Worthington with a score of 8-0. Next game will be Sept. 7th at West Central.
