Football is often a family event with parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters sitting together and watching their favorite teams play, sharing the excitement and rush that comes with a victory.
However, that is something one pair of siblings won’t experience at tonight’s final crosstown rivalry game.
Sophomore Olivia Vanderburg, a varsity basketball and softball player, attends Rider High School, while her brother, senior Blake Vanderburg, attends Wichita Falls High School where he is a varsity basketball and baseball player.
Their mom, Jennifer Vanderburg, a former district employee had sort of a “home base” at Fain Elementary School and wanted her son to attend there, but because they lived in another school zone, had to get a transfer for him. Eventually Olivia followed in his footsteps and attended Barwise Middle School.
“Whenever my son was leaving Barwise, he wanted to follow his friends and his track to Old High,” Jennifer said.
While Olivia had followed her brother to elementary and middle school, she and her parents chose to go a different route for high school.
“Once all of the decisions were made regarding the new campuses and buildings, we knew that even if our daughter went to Old High, two years in she was going to have to be moved to Memorial because there wouldn’t be transfers or things like that,” Jennifer said. “So we felt like it made more sense for her to start at Rider and stay on the same track with most of the same people she started high school with.”
These weren’t the only factors that influenced this decision. Sports play a huge role in the lives of both Olivia and Blake, heavily prioritizing athletics.
“That’s mainly my whole life – just sports, sports, sports,” Olivia said.
Being the parent of varsity athletes at two different schools can be a difficult balancing act at times for Jennifer.
“If they were at the same school – for instance, with basketball – it would have been really convenient to watch my daughter play, then stay at the gym and watch my son play the same night,” said Jennifer, who can’t attend tonight’s game due to her husband’s involvement in Hotter’N Hell. “Whereas instead, we’re driving to opposite district games.
“Most of the time my husband and I have to divide and conquer. One of us is following Rider one of the days of the week and one of us is with Old High, and then vice versa.”
With sports being so important to the family, the two siblings can be very competitive at times.
“They keep up with each other’s statistics and especially in baseball and softball they keep up with batting averages and strikeouts and on-base percentages,” Jennifer said. “They can get pretty mouthy with each other regarding who’s excelling or whatever it may be. It was interesting last spring during the awards season when they both got the exact same award for their sports at different schools. They were both MVPs for baseball and softball and they also got the same district honors as well.”
While the brother and sister do tend to show their competitive sides within their sports, they also often show support and encouragement toward each other.
“They’re really good friends,” Jennifer said. “I mean sure they fight. They’re brother and sister and they’re close in age, but they look out for each other.”
Knowing the way that they take care of each other, it was difficult for Jennifer to send her kids to different schools.
“I always had envisioned the older brother looking out for the younger sister as they made their way through high school and navigated things,” Jennifer said. “He still does that, but just not at school.”
Although their schools may have a rivalry that runs deep, the two siblings don’t experience the same feelings in their home.
“We mainly support each other,” Olivia said. “We’re siblings so we argue of course, but at the end of the day I feel like we’re really close.”
