sports@southwesttimes.com
When it comes to the old saying “birds of a feather flock together”, there couldn’t be a better example of that than on the Lady Cougars basketball team.
The squad bolsters two sets of sisters. Hannah and Samantha Chaffin are siblings, as well as junior guard Kasey Holcomb and junior varsity coach Tiffany Payne. For both sets, it began at a young age.
Hannah and Samantha have been playing sports together since they were in first grade. That continued even when they moved to Pulaski from Ohio in 2000.
“We started out playing all kinds of sports, but when I got to third grade, we had to choose one sport,” Hannah said. “We both chose basketball. So we’ve been playing basketball together since third grade together. Even if she wasn’t on my team, she would practice with my older rec. team and be our manager. She would also practice to get better.”
“When we’ve been growing up here since we moved here from Ohio, we have been playing on the same team. So it’s not really been that different. It is nice playing up here with her at the high school and being able to stay after school and spend more time with her.”
“We’ve been playing since we were little, probably about eight years,” said freshman Samantha Chaffin. “We were on the same team in middle school. It’s kind of weird being together with her in high school.”
As for Payne and Holcomb, their relationship is just a little bit different due to their difference in age.
“When I was three years old, my dad was coaching an AAU team and she was on it,” Holcomb said. “I’ve been in the gym ever since I was three, hanging out until I was old enough to play on my own team. We never got to play together, but I practiced with her the whole time.”
“She was usually at every basketball game,” Payne said. “When I was in college playing, she would come up and watch me play. Some nights, she would stay in the dorm and we would have a good time. She has been there for me and I try to be there for her. When I wasn’t playing, I would try to come home as much as I could.”
The Chaffin’s play on two different squads at the high school – Samantha is on the junior varsity team and Hannah is on the varsity roster. The two have used this to their advance in order to help each other learn on the court.
“We watch each other play all the time,” Samantha said. “If we see each other do something wrong, we will tell each other. We just try to improve each other and help one another out. We back each other up too.”
“I tell her to keep up her hard work,” Hannah said. “She does great at everything she tries. I tell her to work on her shots and take good shots. She is great on defense. I tell her to keep a good attitude.”
With Holcomb and Payne, the dynamic is a little different from player to coach, but the effort to help one another as sisters still holds the same.
“We’ve had conversations out on the floor and after and before the game,” Payne said. “We talk about what she can do against an opponent and what she can do better. We have a really close relationship. Sometimes she helps me with something she has seen with my team that helps me with certain players and that sort of thing. We really help each other as much as we can.”
“Since she’s a coach, I feel I have more pressure on me,” Holcomb said. “She pushes me harder than anyone else. She always gives me pointers on things to do. It’s the little things to do, like making the team work better and just improving my game and having more fun. She always tells me jokes to laugh when I get upset on the court.”
Hannah and Samantha have their sites set a few years down the road. The two of them hope to be playing on the varsity team together as Lady Cougars.
“When I’m a junior and she is a senior, hopefully we’ll be on varsity together,” Samantha said. “It’ll be fun. Because we have played together so much, it will make it easier because we know what each other does and can help one another out. I think it’s fun playing with her because she makes things easier.”
“I don’t think she is going to move up next year,” Hannah said. “I think she is going to try out for JV one more year before she moves up, but I’ve had fun playing on the same team with her. I think being sisters helps because we think alike. It would be a good thing. We could push each other and support one another.”
For Payne, having a sister close by near the field of play can not only serve as a support system, but a point of view that can be trusted and appreciated despite how harsh it may be.
“You have someone there who will flat out lay it on the line for you and will flat out say what needs to be said,” Payne said. “There is no holding back at all. We just flat out tell each other how it is. You need that blatant honesty sometimes. Sometimes it hurts a little bit, but when you think about it, it really is what you need to hear.”
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