For the past nine years, basketball has played a significant role in the sibling bond between sophomore Dhatri Iyer and senior Urvi Iyer. At a young age, the sisters were introduced to basketball because of their neighbor, Shelby. Shelby played on the middle school basketball team and frequently practiced at her house, allowing the sisters to get their first introduction to the sport.
“Shelby lived right across the street from us and she had a hoop so me and Urvi would go over to her house and shoot,” Dhatri said. “It was pretty casual playing with our neighbor and we never really thought about playing on a real team at that point.”
The Iyers participated in a variety of sports and activities together growing up, including ballet, dance, jazz, gymnastics and soccer. However, basketball stuck the most. Gaining a passion for the sport, Urvi started playing basketball at Eisenhower Elementary School in Santa Clara.
“When we first started playing, since she was older than me, we were never really on the same team but we would still practice together and shoot in the front yard, or go to the basketball court together,” Dhatri said.
For the two girls, basketball has been a huge part of their life and they had always hoped to play together on the same team despite their age gap.
It finally happened this year. They both had a role on the coach Manny Steffen’s varsity squad.
Early in the season, Urvi, a captain and the team’s star player, admitted to feeling some nerves about her leadership role and how it relates to her younger sister Dhatri. She ultimately realized that their relationship enabled her to be tough on Dhatri when needed and help her be a better player.
Off the court, the two also share a lot in common.
“We both have a lot of similar interests which is so rare for siblings and I feel like that helps us bond even more,” Urvi said. “Playing basketball together has made us so close but we love to talk about sports, music and anything about pop culture.”
Their on and off-court chemistry is clear to their teammates, friends and coaches.
“Dhatri and Urvi’s off-court relationship positively influences their on-court chemistry,” sophomore forward Payton Steffen said. “It’s so cool that they get to play together and that they can talk about games and practices together before and after them.”
Although Urvi is graduating this year — and continuing her basketball journey by playing Division 3 at Haverford College — Dhatri said she has been grateful to play on the same team for one season.
“It makes me feel a lot more comfortable because I think basketball can stress me out sometimes,” Dhatri said.
This was a remarkable season for both girls. Urvi averaged 14 points per game and reached a huge milestone of 1,000 career points. In Dhatri’s first season on varsity, she’s growing into her role on the team and had a +/- of 4.5 and a positive impact in the first round game of CCS against the South San Francisco Warriors with five points.
While the Iyers’ passes to each other on the court have ended with the team’s CCS loss in late February, they hope to continue assisting each other through the next chapter of their lives.
“It feels so special to play with her, especially with it being my last season here,” Urvi said. “At the moment I don’t think about it but when I look back and I think about it I’m like wow I’m playing varsity basketball with my sister on the team. It’s really cool and I’m really grateful for this opportunity because now we have these memories to look back on and reminisce on.”
