EAST COAST CONFERENCE
Playing ball in the family
link to article

By Gary Brown

There must be something in the water at the East Coast Conference. The 10-member league has 41 family ties on its athletics rosters, including three sets of twins at Molloy, Dowling and New York Institute of Technology.

While the NCAA doesn't keep family-tree records, the situation at the ECC has sprouted curiosity.

The ECC schools are in close geographic proximity with one another (nine in New York, one in Connecticut), which may explain the lineage. "All the schools are within at most 90 minutes of each other," said ECC Sports Information Director Melissa Perry. "Most of the student-athletes are from the Tri-State area. Because the parents can travel to all the league games, it may make for a smart family decision for them to encourage their kids to go to the same school or at least schools within the conference."

Same-team siblings can be an advantage. "They can pick you up when the coach is criticizing your performance," said Dowling's Devin O'Brien, whose twin sister, Caitlin, is her softball teammate.

But sibling rivalries can be a drag, too, says Dowling softball student-athlete Keri Boystak, who frequently faces her sister, Lisa, at NYIT. "We've played with each other our whole lives and you don't want to have that competition. It's easy to compete against someone you don't know, but not against your own sister."

Dowling basketball player Leonard Lans, whose brother, Lamont, plays hoops at Queens (New York), said family ties pose an interesting choice in tense situations. "If there happens to be a scuffle between our teams, it can be hard to decide whether to have your teammates' backs or your brother's ... but we were taught growing up to always protect each other."