Double the sports, double the course load. Twins prove academics and athletics come hand-in-hand

How do you describe an all-around athlete?

Does it come down to a skill in the sport? A passion for the game? Commitment? A team player?

Julianne and Meghan Clifford demonstrate all of the above. These Falcon athletes, and twin sisters, are both members of this season's Falcon women's soccer team. And that's not the only sport they play for Fanshawe. Last year the girls played as a doubles team on the Falcon badminton team.

The girls hail from the small town of Ripley, Ontario and are just two among a large family of six children.

Born natural athletes, Julianne and Meghan were involved in pretty much every sport available to them growing up, including rugby, basketball, badminton, ringette, swimming and, of course, soccer.

The girl's mother, and biggest fan, Mrs. Clifford is a strong believer that having her girls enrolled in sports has had a lot of positive effects.

“When our children were younger we would shuttle them all in the family vehicle from sport to sport, it was easy for us to keep track of where they were and who they were with after school. It also ensured that they were staying out of trouble,” she said.

Competition is a driving force for the girls, and though sometimes they didn't necessarily want to participate in the same sport as their brothers and sisters, they did it for the love of the game. Obviously Julianne and Meghan have the skills to go stateside, and according to Mrs. Clifford, that was an option.

“At one point going to the US for school was definitely a consideration, but with such a tight-knit family a collective decision to stay closer to home was the unanimous outcome,” she said.

For the Clifford girls, growing up with half-a-dozen kids running around was the norm. When asked how they would handle a situation involving one of them making a team that the other did not, they both agreed that playing on opposite teams would have never been an option. If one didn't play the other wouldn't either that's what being a twin is all about.

The girls not only excel in athletics, in fact, they have the whole package with beauty and brains to top it all off.

Mrs. Clifford said one of her beliefs as a mother is that academics and athletics come hand-in-hand. This is why she encouraged her children to take advantage of any opportunity, academically or extracurricularly, that is offered to them.

Each year the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) honours students who have achieved combined excellence in College athletics and academics. This means the student must be competing in a varsity sport while maintaining honour roll and a very high GPA. Last year both Julianne and Meghan were recipients of this award.

The twin sisters continue to prove that the stereotype of labeling athletes as the “dumb jock” is clearly incorrect. Not only are the girls varsity athletes, but they are also both working towards a diploma and a degree in nursing, as they are enrolled in the Western/ Fanshawe collaborative nursing program.

Some might say Julianne and Meghan are following in the footsteps of their mom who also works as a nurse back home in Ripley. The twins have said that their mom's nursing background has always worked to their advantage. “If there was ever an injury to a teammate Mom was the first to the field,” the girls agree.

With practices, a vigorous schedule, and games two times a week, you can't accuse these girls of slacking. Julianne and Meghan are proof that skill, time management and a supportive family are all key factors in student success. The girls are definitely doing their fair share of helping support Fanshawe Athletics.

The Falcons Women's soccer team led by head Coach Martin Painter had a very successful 2008-2009 season. The Falcon women were ranked second in the OUA West Division, and made it into the Quarterfinals. The season has now wrapped up after a loss at Seneca College on Saturday, October 19 2008.