There is a saying, “behind every little sister there’s a big sister standing behind her holding a bat saying, ‘you want to say that again?’” and it perfectly describes Mackenzie and Makenna Watson’s relationship.
Mackenzie and Makenna Watson are one of two sets of sisters on the Taylor Lady Ducks volleyball team. Let’s just say Mackenzie, the older sister, does not take too kindly to people trash-talking her little sister.
“Oh, I aim the ball right at their face if they talk trash to Kenna,” Mackenzie said. Lady Ducks Head Coach Kelsey Carr also spoke about the sisters and their relationship on the court.
“I do think they set a great example of how to be good teammates for the team in general.
They make each other work hard and for sure talk a little trash, but they also want their sister to be amazing and they get so excited when they do something great. If Kenna gets a great dig the first thing you hear is ‘That’s my sister’ coming from Mackenzie.” Carr said.
Mackenzie said playing volleyball with her sister is something they always looked forward to and now they get to live it. Mackenzie is a senior player on the varsity volleyball team in Taylor, Makenna is a freshman on the team, and said she had a good role model to prepare her for varsity.
“I think it is really cool being able to play with her because growing up I always looked up to her, she’s my big sister,” Makenna said while chuckling.
“Sometimes we argue but it is really good on the court because I think we have really good chemistry when we are getting along.”
With Mackenzie being a senior and looking to graduate this spring she said she is leaning more towards going to college out of state. The move would obviously see her leaving her sister and best friend back home and is something she has wrestled with while weighing her options.
“The only reason I would stay in state to go to college is for Kenna, but I am leaning more towards out of state,” Mackenzie said.
“It will be really really hard, and sometimes I got real sad thinking about it when I was applying to Clemson and Oregon. It got really sad because, and I talked to coach Carr about it to, it is going to be real hard to leave Kenna behind, when I see them driving away, it is going to be real hard for me to adjust.
Her being in a different time zone is really a scary thought.”
Makenna was equally as emotional talking about the possibility of her big sister and her best friend moving out of state.
“I tell her literally everything, like I’ll tell her what I ate, I’ll tell her stuff about boys or how I am feeling and even about club volleyball,” Makenna said. “It is definitely going to be hard if she moves away cause I will not be able to go in her room and just talk to her. She’ll still come and visit but she is not always going to be here, she’ll still be in my corner, but she’ll just be really far away.”
Mackenzie and Makenna Watson have mutual respect for each other because of their work ethic, drive and passion. The sisters do everything together, Carr said the pair make sure they are on the same team when scrimmaging and Mackenzie said she likes hanging out with her sister more than anyone.
One would think most siblings with that age gap would rarely hang out, but not the Watson sisters.
“Everywhere I go she (Makenna) comes with me,” Mackenzie said.
“She is my rock.”
Makenna echoed her sister’s words and said they will even have sleepovers together.
“I will go in her room at like midnight and just talk about why I had a bad day or if I just need a shoulder to cry on,” Makenna said. “I’ll stay there all night.”
The pair are inseparable sharing multiple stories about their relationship and how close they are to one another. One story stuck out the most for them and it was their favorite vacation memory while growing up together.
“Gatlinburg, Tennessee, it was raining, and we were in the mountains and me and Kenna were just dancing in the rain,” Mackenzie said.
Oddly enough, the pair believes the most interesting thing about their relationship is that they never fought. The sister claimed they have never had a big fight growing up together and it was mostly just have small arguments.
“We really haven’t had that many big big fights. It was mostly just bickering. Mostly, it’s just she’ll come steal my sweater or something or I’ll steal her makeup or something,” Mackenzie said. “We argue over little stuff, but I don’t think we have ever gotten to a point where we just refuse to talk to each other,” Makenna said.
Big fight or not, it is apparent these two sisters love each other beyond comprehension. They have one home game left to give fans a chance to see their chemistry on the court Tuesday, Oct. 25, when they play Smithville.
