Team Phillip

Junior Matthew Philip remembers the moment he discovered his passion for soccer: the 2015 FIFA World Cup. He remembers the adrenaline he felt as his twin brother Thomas and his friends cheered on famous soccer stars like Christiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Rodriguez as they moved through the field with grace. He remembers the excitement of  the audience each time Team USA scored. Little did he and Thomas know this shared excitement and passion would mark the start of the twins’ journey playing soccer.

Joining a local grassroots team at age 11, the twins, who are now on the varsity soccer team, spent hours every day playing soccer together, enjoying the excitement the game sparked. Through that team, they were able to play in small tournaments and kick off their soccer careers. Matthew recalls that despite the team not being composed of many skilled players, he and Thomas reveled in playing the sport casually with their teammates, who motivated them to consistently train to improve. 

Specifically, Matthew recalls a match that he played for the Kennedy Middle School soccer team when he and his brother’s teamwork led the team to score a critical goal. Unfavorable weather conditions had caused the twins to be doubtful that they would be able to play well, but their ability to work in harmony inspired their team’s success.

“My brother gave me a through ball [a pass sent between two back defenders], and I gave him a one touch,” Matthew said. “[It was] a good shot, [which] wrapped around the goalkeeper and went in. It was a really, really good feeling. And I think it’s really special that my brother was part of it.”

Also, when a player committed  a “dirty foul” against Thomas, Matthew stood up for his brother by calling the other player out and getting “really aggressive.” Although this led to Matthew getting a yellow card for his confrontational actions, he felt satisfied that he was able to have his brother’s back and knew Thomas would do the same for him.

Junior Guru Gopinath, who has been a teammate to the twins since seventh grade, appreciates their compatibility on the field. Gopinath stresses that the key to their success is their strong communication and mutual understanding.

“They find it easy to communicate with each other,” Gopinath said. “Because they’re related, they’re able to tell each other what’s going on in the game [more quickly]. Communication is probably the most important thing because if we’re able to communicate well [on the field], we play well, and because of the amount of time they’ve been playing together and the amount of time they spent together, and because they are siblings [they are able to communicate better].”

Soccer has helped Matthew and Philip improve their relationship through learning each others’ playing style 

and increasing mutual trust and empathy. Not only has soccer become a key component of their life, 

it also enables them to grow closer to one another and motivates each other to do better.

“Me and my brother have a pretty good relationship — we [always] push each other to do stuff.” Matthew said. “[We have a] pretty honest relationship, so if somebody is out of line or does something [wrong], we go ahead and tell each other, and we understand each other a lot. I think that really helped us and our relationship.”