Tennis has the Williams sisters, and football had the Barber twins. These sibling rivalries, which must have made for a highly competitive home environment, seem to be the recipe for success. Each of these families has been in the public spotlight and has seen huge accomplishments. Three siblings — let alone triplets — who are also talented athletes, on the other hand, seems almost impossible.
Meet the Jennings sisters: Rachel, Tara and Erin attend Virginia, Duke and Princeton, respectively, and play on their schools’ field hockey teams. They attended Emmaus High School in Macungie, Pa., a state that has come to be known as one of the field hockey hubs of the United States. The women’s success on the field and in the classroom can be traced back to their childhood and growing up with each other.
“I think they feel that [competition] made them get where they are,” their father, John Jennings said. “If they didn’t have the other two that they were competing against, they might not have achieved everything they have achieved.”
They are about as close as any siblings can get; they shared the same room for nearly their entire lives. This has helped them remain close and competitive.
“It [competition] caused so many fights,” Virginia freshman back Rachel Jennings said. “We weren’t normal sisters who loved each other; we competed over everything.”
Before the Jennings sisters started playing field hockey, they played soccer and basketball competitively. They went to the AAU Nationals in basketball and won the State Cup in soccer. Up until college, their father said his daughters did not lose 15 total games throughout their lives in all the sports they played. For most people, this is enough success to encompass a lifetime, but not for the Jennings sisters. They have been surrounded their entire lives with the success and positive influence of their family and friends. As they progressed through high school, they decided to try something new and gave field hockey a shot; the rest is history. Despite being triplets and similar in many ways, each plays a different position.
“We are all at the same [playing] level,” Rachel Jennings said. “We play different positions so it varies. We all [worked] together really well [in high school]; none of us really stuck out.”
Among the many accolades the girls collected throughout high school, one of the most noteworthy was a state championship for Emmaus in 2006. As a result of their athletic and academic achievements in high school, they were not limited in their choice of colleges. Rachel and Tara were both two-time All-American selections, and Erin was an Academic All-American.
“Since they were 6 years old, they said they were going to different colleges,” John Jennings said, noting the sisters’ friends were surprised when the triplets decided to split up and go to different universities. “The girls always wanted to be separate and more unique.”
College would be the first time the girls would spend an extended period of time apart.
“It’s weird right now not playing with them because I’ve played with them for 18 years now and all of a sudden we are playing against each other,” Duke freshman midfielder Tara Jennings said.
Tara and Rachel play in the ACC, while Erin plays in the midfield in the Ivy League at Princeton. All three schools are currently ranked in the top 15 in the country. Coincidently, Duke and Virginia will play each other this weekend in Durham, N.C. Tara and Rachel are looking forward to being on opposite sides of the field for the first time in their lives.
“It’s going to be really competitive when we play each other,” Rachel Jennings said. “We already have a bet on the game.”
Erin said she hopes to face either Duke or Virginia in the NCAA Tournament later this year.
Despite going to three schools that are relatively far away from each other, the sisters stay in contact and enjoy keeping up with their sisters’ teams and personal statistics.
“We all follow each other’s records and make fun of each other, like who has the better record,” Erin Jennings said. “It’s more competitive now, now that we are on different teams.”
As the girls experience collegiate success on and off the field, they will not forget where it all started. They developed their desire to be the best they can be by pushing one another and supporting one another for 18 years.
“They are three driven girls who are very bright and excel at whatever they do,” John Jennings said. “They will tell you that if it was not for each other, they might not have achieved as much in field hockey and they might not have gotten the grades they got.”
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