3 Hawks, 1 Competition

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Spencer, Grayson and Chandler Hawkins are three brothers who have grown up competing in a sibling rivalry. All three have attended Leesville Road High School; Spencer graduated in the class of ’07, Grayson is currently a senior and Chandler is a sophomore. All three brothers have played basketball and football throughout school.

Spencer led the trio by playing basketball at a very young age, and in the seventh grade, Spencer started playing football for West Millbrook Middle School. He continued both sports throughout his high school career.

Both younger brothers, Grayson and Chandler followed in their brother’s footsteps. “He was like a role model to me and Chandler and you always want to beat your older brother,” said Grayson.

When they were younger, Spencer crushed Grayson in everything they did, but Grayson kept competing. Gradually Grayson kept getting better from playing with Spencer and his friends;  once the two became older, Spencer’s great size and better skill back fired on him. Grayson became taller and began competing with his brother, giving him a run for his money each time they stepped out on a court or field.

Just as all seemed to be equal, another brother would be working his way up, ready to challenge both of his older brothers.

Chandler would be motivated to beat both Grayson and Spencer and be named top Hawkins brother. “You always want to live up to your brothers and beat them; there is always competition between us,” said Chandler.

Since Spencer is three years older than Grayson, they hardly ever interacted with each other in high school football or basketball. Grayson and Chandler, however, play on the same varsity basketball team because they are only two years apart. According to the brothers, they both prefer playing together.

Grayson plays the big brother role in helping Chandler out in any way he can. “I look out for him and just make sure he keeps his head straight,” said Grayson.

Chandler enjoys having his older brother on the team because he knows that his brother is just helping him. “I never take what he tells me in a negative way,” said Chandler. “I know he is just trying to help me play better.”

According to both younger brothers, the younger siblings will always have the advantage when it comes to sibling rivalries. The younger siblings take part in competition two or three years longer than the older sibling.

In the long run, the extra years and experience from playing against bigger and older competition gives them the upper hand. However, Spencer has been setting the building blocks allowing the two brothers to work harder to catch up with him.

Having an older brother has allowed Grayson and Chandler to grow not only as athletes, but also as people. They have learned to accept losing to someone who they really wanted to beat and each loss has taught the brothers to persevere over heartbreak until victory was reached. Both perseverance and accepting loss can help athletes with competition and allow them to grow overall.

Now, it is obvious that the sibling rivalry still exists since the brothers still challenge either other to see who the best is, and the younger brothers think that they truly are the best. Both Chandler and Grayson believe that they could easily beat Spencer in a game of one on one basketball. Grayson believes he could also easily beat Chandler, but Chandler, more modestly, believes that playing Grayson would be a good game. All three boys may need to have a family reunion on the basketball court to settle this rivalry once and for all.

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