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Sisters that stay together, play together
The Advocate
The bond between sisters Jazmin and Esmeralda Orozco is so strong that one waited for the other for a chance to play college volleyball together at MHCC.
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The young women grew up in the little town of Zihuatanejo located in the south of Mexico on the Pacific Ocean.
“We started playing in Mexico but not competitively,” said Jazmin.
“We would just play four-person matches for fun.” They said they preferred soccer to volleyball before they moved to Madras, Ore., when Esmeralda was 6 and Jazmin was 5.
“We moved to Madras because our dad wanted to give us a better life,” said Esmeralda. “It was a big change for us.”
The sisters began playing volleyball in club leagues to learn the game.
“We weren’t really coordinated back then,” said Jazmin.
Soon after settling in Madras, their family moved to where they only joined the volleyball team at Crook County High School by accident.
“We wanted to play on a class team, not on the (varsity) team,” said Esmeralda. “We were surprised because we didn’t understand why we were taking a class after school. But we found out later on and stayed and we started liking it. It was our first time we ever played on a real team.”
“It was our first year ever playing that competitively so we were put on the freshman team,” said Jazmin. The sisters made varsity the next season.
They described their childhood as hard because of the move from Mexico and having to learn a new language. They said the best part of being only a year apart was they had each other to hold when they needed it.
“It was awkward,” said Jazmin. “We didn’t know anybody when we came here and going to a new school was tough. We are sisters and close so we are able to help one another.”
Now they live together in a one-bedroom apartment; they are close but still get into fights.
“We share a room together. We have all the same classes,” said Esmeralda.
“We are so close but we also fight a lot because we are around each other so much. She is good support for me but gets on my nerves very easy.”
“Same with her,” said Jazmin.
The sisters also played soccer in high school but when Esmeralda graduated one year before Jazmin, she decided to take a year off and wait for her sister to graduate.
“We really didn’t want to separate,” said Esmeralda. “But I also got burned out from playing volleyball so much. I wanted to take a year off and wait for her.”
Their coach told them they needed to continue playing after high school. But the sisters never expected to play with each other again, according to Esmeralda. The Crook County volleyball coach contacted MHCC coach Chelsie Freeman and said she had two players. “We didn’t know she did this and thought we would have to split up. We were extremely excited when we found out Chelsie wanted both of us and we were not going to have to be alone at separate colleges.”
They moved to Gresham and were surprised at how much different “city life” is.
“It is very different,” said Jazmin. “Moving to a big city and this being our very first time here is very interesting.”
But Esmeralda said, “It is kind of boring. There is not much for us to do here.”
The best part for them is meeting new friends and bonding with the girls on the team, she said.
Jazmin agreed. “It has been awesome getting to know a bunch of new girls and making new friends,” she said.
Esmeralda: “It is fun to hang out with the friends. We all like to go shopping together.”
Jazmin: “And we like to go ice skating at Lloyd Center also.”
Freeman said the sisters are really fun to watch in practice. “They constantly yell at each other. They are the only ones to do it, obviously, because they are sisters but they get so competitive it is fun to watch them yell at each other on their play.”
Jazmin said, “We yell at each other in practice all the time. But then she yells right back at me about how I am playing. We are just really competitive.”
Esmeralda said, “Yeah, we are the only ones who yell at each other like that in practice. But it is because we are sisters and can do that.”
“On the court, she talks a lot,” she added. “She communicates for us amazingly on the court.”
Jazmin said her sister plays like a coach. “She tells us all what we can fix during the game. She is a great setter and gives our team inspiration throughout a match.”
The sisters are working on degrees in business administration and want to be a part of some business in their futures, said Esmeralda.
They said they do not want to think about having to separate after next year’s season. “Moving here and being alone has been hard for us but being where with each other has been a big help for both of us here,” said
Esmeralda.Jazmin said, “We want to keep playing volleyball somewhere if we can, but if we have to separate to keep playing then we will. But for right now, we don’t want to think about it.”
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