WS Chronicle

The Alejandro-Ortiz sisters do everything together and that’s just the way they like it. Being so close in age, the three sisters have formed a bond that is unbreakable, whether it’s on or off the field of play.

Dajanenn (18), Damyja (17) and Daya’Onna (15), affectionately called D1, D2 and D3, play basketball, volleyball and run track for the Phoenix of Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy. The three young ladies have always had a love for sports and competing with and against one another.

“I guess it works on our sisterly bond and relationship and it’s great that we can be competitive with one another,” said Dajanenn (D1) about why she enjoys playing sports.

Damyja (D2) added, “When I was younger, I was always competitive. I always had a love for track and finishing first, so I think that’s why I am focused on track as my main sport. Playing with them is fun and competitive and we do try to outdo each other and that’s what builds our bond.”

Daya’Onna (D3) says her love for sports grew as she watched her two older sisters play. “Not being old enough to be on the team and watching them made me fall in love with sports,” she said. “I said to myself that I wanted to do that and be like them and now being on the team together makes it even better.”

The sisters say they would compete against one another in any athletic endeavor, whether it was an actual sport or just seeing who could jump the highest on the trampoline. They also take every sport seriously because their mother told them she would not come to watch them if they didn’t.

As the eldest member of the family, D1 says she takes on the motherly role for her two sisters, as well as for their three younger sisters. For her, volleyball is her favorite sport, due to her being able to “let her anger out” while playing.

D3’s favorite sport is also volleyball. She says track and basketball are not far behind because they are fun to play. D3 admitted that volleyball is her best sport, but enjoys the camaraderie of the other sports she plays with her sisters.

While playing together is a dream come true for the girls, sometimes they do have arguments with one another. “It gets stressful, very stressful,” D1 said. “We are not the best athletes, but we are competitive, so when we lose, it just makes the whole thing bad. We get to arguing and the coach gets mad and tells us to stop arguing, but that’s what sisters do. At the end of the day, we are always going to ride behind each other.”

“I feel like we argue a lot like we can’t argue with the rest of our teammates,” D3 said. “If D2 messes up, me and D1 will yell at her, but we can’t yell at the rest of the teammates. I feel like that’s better because I can speak and not have to hold my tongue. With her being my sister, I can say, ‘Get your feet right and next time you are going to do it right’ and not be rude.”

It would be safe to assume that the sisters would get tired of being around one another so much. The time spent at home, in school, as well as practice and games gives the girls little time apart and that’s just the way they like it. They love being together and when a break is needed, each young lady has her own way to decompress.

For D1, she likes to go to the gym to work out as her form of alone time. D2 and D3 say they don’t really have a need for alone time, because the thought rarely crosses their mind.

“It doesn’t bother me being around them all the time,” D2 went on to say. “I know when she (D1) leaves for college, I don’t know what I am going to do. When I leave for college, I don’t know what she (D3) is going to do, because I am always around them.”

“I never really just think I wish they would go away, or I just need time to myself to do what I need to do,” D3 added. “I never think like that, because it’s always been us three together for as long as I can remember, and we are all we got when it comes down to it.”

D1 is excited, but at the same time worried to leave her sisters when she leaves for college in the fall. She is not only a big sister, she is the driver, cook and hair stylist for her younger siblings.  

“I don’t know what I am going to do, she has always done everything for me,” said D2 about her big sister. I don’t want to imagine it and I feel like it’s going to be so depressing. She (D1) is like the domino, because if she falls, we all fall. But if she stays up, we all stay up.”