Elsa and Sara Diaz: Sisters & Spiders
05/01/2015 | General, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf
There is a special bond between teammates. That chemistry becomes even stronger when the teammates are siblings. This month's Behind The Web takes a unique look at Elsa and Sara Diaz, sisters who experienced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be teammates on the Spider Women's Golf team.
Our SpiderTV video feature shows the closeness between Elsa and Sara – on and off the course. The video itself comes from a fresh perspective – Spider women's basketball student-athlete and fledgling TV sportscaster Olivia Healy is the reporter asking the questions, rather than answering them.
“I like talking to people. I could talk forever” laughs Liv, who is currently rehabbing her second knee injury in as many years, and is determined to return to the court. “I'd like to be on ESPN someday. Holly Roe is my role model. I'd want to be like her.”
In addition to her role with SpiderTV, Liv also writes for the student newspaper, The Collegian. She has had a courtside seat at the Robins Center covering men's basketball and has been in Robins Stadium covering men's lacrosse. Look for more of her reports when the 2015-16 athletic year rolls around this fall.
As a prelude to the video, Associate Director of Athletic Public Relations Will Bryan accompanied the women's golf team to the Patriot League Championships in Annapolis, Maryland and writes an eyewitness account of the Diaz sisters and the Spider Women's Golf Team…
When fall practice opened for the 2014-15 women's golf season, the Richmond Spiders' program had an all-new look. UR had a new coach in Ali Wright. Richmond entered a new conference in the Patriot League. By October, the Spiders moved their practice facility to Independence Golf Club in Midlothian. And two sisters from Texas donned the Spider red and blue together for the first time, making an impact felt far beyond the undulating green fairways of the Virginia countryside.
Sara and Elsa Diaz only played one season together for the Spiders. Elsa committed to Richmond after a breakout high school tournament in Virginia during her junior year. Her sister, Sara, four years her elder, had never been able to play on the same team as Elsa because of the age difference. With the opportunity as a fifth-year graduate transfer as a very real possibility, Sara left Texas A&M-Commerce and came to Richmond. The Diaz Train was in full effect.
What makes this story so interesting isn't just that two sisters got to play together on the same team. It's not how two girls who were raised in Mexico used their experiences in the First Tee program as an opportunity to learn English and assimilate into Texas through golf. It's not because they independently became friends with NBA great and ESPN analyst Bruce Bowen, who has now become a family friend and frequent tweeter of @URSpiderWGolf. It's not because Elsa was one of the top rookie golfers in the Patriot League this season and Sara was third on the team in stroke average while maintaining a high GPA in graduate school.
This story is interesting because of the way Elsa and Sara Diaz impacted everyone else around them. They brought a palpable energy to a program that needed it. Their competitive nature drove their teammates to be better themselves. Their bubbly personalities and interest in everything going on in with the wider Richmond athletic department turned the spotlight to the women's golf team.
At the Patriot League Championship in Annapolis, Md., Elsa and Sara alternated between hosting a dance party in the back of the team van to focusing everyone on expectations with no limits. Winning the championship was the goal, period.
The Richmond women's golf team stood out in Annapolis. They were the crew laughing and having fun during the team's practice round. They were the ones who caught each other's eye on every turn, evoking positive energy with just a nod and a smile.
The Spiders finished fourth in that tournament, four spots higher than last year's eighth-place finish in the CAA. Elsa Diaz was named Second Team All-Conference as one of the lowest-scoring freshmen in the league. Jessica Lydia joined her on the All-Conference squad.
After the final round, Coach Wright gathered the girls together and challenged them. They are talented. And they can finish even better next year. But she closed on a thought that brought a tear to everyone's eyes.
For players like Jessica Lydia, Kyra Kuhnert, Alicia Reggiannini, Maria Pons Cano and Tiarra Baskerville, the Diaz sisters became more than just a pair of new teammates this season. They became their sisters too.
Players Mentioned
