Birds of a Feather: Blalock Twins Share Unique Bond
March 22, 2021 | Women's Lacrosse
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Every tenured sports fan knows the tropes that go along with siblings – and especially twins – playing with each other.
Sentiments like "they know what each other are thinking" and "They can read each other's minds" regularly get tossed around to describe the feel siblings general play within team sports, and not without reason. For University of Louisville Lacrosse seniors Sarah Blalock and Caroline Blalock, all of these are true.
But it's the Blalock sisters' differences that really make them tick on and off the field.
On the field, Caroline serves as one of the best offensive players in the country, while Sarah takes pride in her ability to defend opponents' best scorers in one-on-one situations. Caroline has a penchant for earning recognition, as she earned a captain role for the Cardinals as a freshman and entered her senior season with All-American Honors. Sarah, on the other hand, makes a name for herself in the weight room and on the field, as she's a three-time Iron Cardinal Award winner, designating her as the top performer in preseason testing.
Off the field, Sarah does most of the talking, while Caroline is content to listen until the right opportunity for a joke arrives
"I'm the funnier one," Caroline quips when asked about the dynamic.
These differences on and off the field have allowed the Blalocks to make a significant impact on the Louisville Lacrosse program.
"They're definitely both players that we count on," said Louisville head coach Scott Teeter. "Caroline gets a lot more of the accolades being a two-way midfielder, but then Sarah is just as equally important on our defensive end. She's our shutdown defender, our face guarder if we play that style of play.
"Both of them stick together and push each other. That's the biggest thing. On and off the field. They're both so competitive."
That's the one thing they have in common: they love competition.
As young children in Ellicott City, Md., they could be seen trying to pin each other at their older brothers' wrestling tournaments. As they grew up, they became successful multisport athletes.
But despite growing up in the same household, even their journeys to Louisville manifested themselves in different ways.
Caroline's journey in the sport of lacrosse has largely been a natural one. She quickly separated herself from her peers at a young age and played at the highest level of competition available from middle school until she arrived in Louisville.
"I always wanted to play lacrosse in college," Caroline said. "Just because I knew I was better at lacrosse than other sports like basketball, and I wanted to go to a big school, so I knew lacrosse would take me there."
Sarah, on the other hand, had to develop a little bit more grit. During middle school she considered quitting lacrosse altogether after getting cut from a travel team that Caroline remained on.
It felt like a harsh reality that she hadn't yet had to confront.
"I had to ask myself, 'is she really that much better than me? Am I that good at lacrosse?" Sarah remembers. "That was really hard for me to figure out."
Ultimately, she stuck with it, playing for another team a county over. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as both her and Caroline received their first opportunity to make a name for themselves on the field without being intrinsically and unavoidably tied to each other.
Caroline continued to excel, further validating her thoughts of playing collegiate lacrosse, and Sarah discovered a newfound appreciation for the sport, and upon reaching high school, she chose to join her sister in the pursuit of earning a Division I scholarship to play the sport.
"Sarah has a chip on her shoulder because of (that experience)," Caroline said. "And she plays like that. You can see it on the field. She's aggressive. She's not one of the biggest defenders but she knocks girls down."
The time playing apart did little to quell the sibling rivalry, however. In fact, it may have strengthened it.
But that's the fun of having a sibling you share a birthday with, and Teeter has done his best to channel that rivalry into positive energy for the Cardinals.
He's had so much success, in fact, that it has prompted him to change an aspect of his recruiting strategy.
"They just constantly compete with each other and it brings out the best in both of them," Teeter said. "And it's led to us really recruiting a lot of sister combinations."
Caroline also faced her fair share of challenges. Already dealing with a coaching change entering her freshman season, she earned her current leadership position on the team through trial by fire as Teeter named her a captain despite her true freshman status.
"It was definitely intimidating being one of the youngest people there and being told that I'm in this leadership position," Caroline remembers. "I definitely relied on the two senior captains."
But she always had Sarah there to keep her level-headed. And Sarah always had her.
Through four seasons, the Blalock twins have helped shape the early portion of Teeter's tenure as Louisville's Lacrosse coach. They have affected the way he coaches, he recruits and even the way he thinks about the game.
"We look for family characteristics in our recruits and in the mold of our athletes," Teeter said. "It just makes the adjustment, with us being in the Midwest and recruiting all over the place, if you're bringing someone like a teammate or a sister in with them, it helps with the adjustment.
"They're going to have 30 to 40 automatic sisters on the team, but you know when they have that one true sister when you get a little homesick or things get a little bit tougher, that's who you're going to gravitate to."
Unsurprisingly, that's what Sarah and Caroline Blalock have been for each other for the last four years, if not the last 20. It won't always be the case. With graduation creeping up, Caroline plans on moving back to Maryland to work in sports marketing, and Sarah plans to use degrees in sociology and sustainability to aid construction companies in implementing greener development.
But for four years in Louisville, they've had an opportunity to live, learn and grow together as young adults. And no matter how different they are or how far apart they live, they'll always retain that twin magic.
Sentiments like "they know what each other are thinking" and "They can read each other's minds" regularly get tossed around to describe the feel siblings general play within team sports, and not without reason. For University of Louisville Lacrosse seniors Sarah Blalock and Caroline Blalock, all of these are true.
But it's the Blalock sisters' differences that really make them tick on and off the field.
On the field, Caroline serves as one of the best offensive players in the country, while Sarah takes pride in her ability to defend opponents' best scorers in one-on-one situations. Caroline has a penchant for earning recognition, as she earned a captain role for the Cardinals as a freshman and entered her senior season with All-American Honors. Sarah, on the other hand, makes a name for herself in the weight room and on the field, as she's a three-time Iron Cardinal Award winner, designating her as the top performer in preseason testing.
Off the field, Sarah does most of the talking, while Caroline is content to listen until the right opportunity for a joke arrives
"I'm the funnier one," Caroline quips when asked about the dynamic.
These differences on and off the field have allowed the Blalocks to make a significant impact on the Louisville Lacrosse program.
"They're definitely both players that we count on," said Louisville head coach Scott Teeter. "Caroline gets a lot more of the accolades being a two-way midfielder, but then Sarah is just as equally important on our defensive end. She's our shutdown defender, our face guarder if we play that style of play.
"Both of them stick together and push each other. That's the biggest thing. On and off the field. They're both so competitive."
That's the one thing they have in common: they love competition.
As young children in Ellicott City, Md., they could be seen trying to pin each other at their older brothers' wrestling tournaments. As they grew up, they became successful multisport athletes.
But despite growing up in the same household, even their journeys to Louisville manifested themselves in different ways.
Caroline's journey in the sport of lacrosse has largely been a natural one. She quickly separated herself from her peers at a young age and played at the highest level of competition available from middle school until she arrived in Louisville.
"I always wanted to play lacrosse in college," Caroline said. "Just because I knew I was better at lacrosse than other sports like basketball, and I wanted to go to a big school, so I knew lacrosse would take me there."
Sarah, on the other hand, had to develop a little bit more grit. During middle school she considered quitting lacrosse altogether after getting cut from a travel team that Caroline remained on.
It felt like a harsh reality that she hadn't yet had to confront.
"I had to ask myself, 'is she really that much better than me? Am I that good at lacrosse?" Sarah remembers. "That was really hard for me to figure out."
Ultimately, she stuck with it, playing for another team a county over. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as both her and Caroline received their first opportunity to make a name for themselves on the field without being intrinsically and unavoidably tied to each other.
Caroline continued to excel, further validating her thoughts of playing collegiate lacrosse, and Sarah discovered a newfound appreciation for the sport, and upon reaching high school, she chose to join her sister in the pursuit of earning a Division I scholarship to play the sport.
"Sarah has a chip on her shoulder because of (that experience)," Caroline said. "And she plays like that. You can see it on the field. She's aggressive. She's not one of the biggest defenders but she knocks girls down."
The time playing apart did little to quell the sibling rivalry, however. In fact, it may have strengthened it.
But that's the fun of having a sibling you share a birthday with, and Teeter has done his best to channel that rivalry into positive energy for the Cardinals.
He's had so much success, in fact, that it has prompted him to change an aspect of his recruiting strategy.
"They just constantly compete with each other and it brings out the best in both of them," Teeter said. "And it's led to us really recruiting a lot of sister combinations."
Caroline also faced her fair share of challenges. Already dealing with a coaching change entering her freshman season, she earned her current leadership position on the team through trial by fire as Teeter named her a captain despite her true freshman status.
"It was definitely intimidating being one of the youngest people there and being told that I'm in this leadership position," Caroline remembers. "I definitely relied on the two senior captains."
But she always had Sarah there to keep her level-headed. And Sarah always had her.
Through four seasons, the Blalock twins have helped shape the early portion of Teeter's tenure as Louisville's Lacrosse coach. They have affected the way he coaches, he recruits and even the way he thinks about the game.
"We look for family characteristics in our recruits and in the mold of our athletes," Teeter said. "It just makes the adjustment, with us being in the Midwest and recruiting all over the place, if you're bringing someone like a teammate or a sister in with them, it helps with the adjustment.
"They're going to have 30 to 40 automatic sisters on the team, but you know when they have that one true sister when you get a little homesick or things get a little bit tougher, that's who you're going to gravitate to."
Unsurprisingly, that's what Sarah and Caroline Blalock have been for each other for the last four years, if not the last 20. It won't always be the case. With graduation creeping up, Caroline plans on moving back to Maryland to work in sports marketing, and Sarah plans to use degrees in sociology and sustainability to aid construction companies in implementing greener development.
But for four years in Louisville, they've had an opportunity to live, learn and grow together as young adults. And no matter how different they are or how far apart they live, they'll always retain that twin magic.
Players Mentioned
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