Anyone with a brother will know how hard it is to get along. Sibling rivalry permeates a relationship, especially when the siblings go to the same school and there is really no getting away from each other. But for the Jones and Chappell brothers, all of whom are on the varsity basketball team, sibling rivalry has no place on the court. They must work together to ensure the success of the team.
“I wouldn’t say that’s on the court [sibling rivalry]. On the court, it’s more we’re arguing because we know what we can do and we’re not playing up to the level that we know we can play up to,” junior and varsity player Kaejhan Jones said.
There are five players on the court at all times during a basketball game. “I play Power Forward and Center, and [my brother and I] are interchangeable at that, so he can be either down low or, you know, we switch positions and everything. I would say I’m pretty good at what I do,” senior and varsity player Savonte Chappell said.
“I play small forward and shooting guard, he mostly plays just shooting guard, so that’s when we just have to guard each other, so he doesn’t really switch a lot of positions, but those are the two that I switch between,” senior and varsity player Karl Jones said.
Q: Share your favorite memory of growing up together.
A: (Karl) My favorite memory would be. . .definitely every time we when a championship together, whether it be AU playing together, [recreation], even when we won a championship in middle school, just to be able to share that experience with him. And also every year when we take a picture in our jerseys and we get to be beside each other it’s a good memory, it’s like we’re adding another step, another year together, it’s the best. It’s the best part.
A: (Kaejhan) My favorite memory. It’s probably winning the middle school championship with him on the team. It went well, we only lost one game that year. It was game where everyone felt like we got cheated. It was my first year on the team.
A: (Savonte) There’s a lot of memories, but I’d say my favorite one was this one time we were at a park playing basketball, and [he and I] just dominated everybody. [He and I] playing together on that court just dominated everybody and it was kind of a good moment. On the car ride home we had a bunch of stories to tell, “You dunked on him” or “You shot that ball over him” or “You crossed him” so we’ll be laughing and joking about that.
A: (Christian) My favorite memory . . . my favorite memory [is probably] when we played AAU, we went to Myrtle Beach and played basketball there. I thought it was fun because we would stay up all night and play video games and stuff.
Q: Have you ever felt the referee has made an unfair call? What do you do? Does it rattle you at all?
A: (Karl) “Yes, I have felt that the [referee] has made unfair calls at times, sometimes I have lost my focus, I have had technical fouls, but I’m trying to be more mature about situations like that, so I try to relax more, so there’s a lot more time left in the game so I can make up for the mistake, and I know the referee will make up for his mistake.”
A: (Kaejhan) “Yes, it upsets me, but I’ve learned how to manage my anger, like as a little kid-I didn’t know how to control it when I was a little kid, so I would always get technical fouls and stuff, but now I learned, just keep it to myself.”
A: (Savonte) “It does, but I have to have amnesia and get back to our side of the court and keep playing, I can’t let it get to me out there.”
A: (Christian) “When the referees make a bad call I just get so upset that they’re not doing their job right and I just want to correct them, but then they do [make] bad mistakes.”
All four brothers have been played basketball for years. Karl and Kaejhan have each been playing since they were three years old, Savonte first picked up a basketball at two years old, and Christian started playing at four years old. Not only have all the brothers been playing since they were toddlers, their reasons for playing are also very similar: they all have a love of the game. Christian has dreams of being in the NBA, while his elder brother Savonte does not. However, love of the game brings them together, on and off the court.
“Yeah [I like being on the same team], [my brother and I] are goofy, very goofy, and I just like him being a teammate,” Christian said.
