With four children playing boys and girls varsity basketball, Roos parents split up viewing duties
By Bill Poehler
Special to the Statesman Journal
January 8, 2008
The Ross siblings have been making significant varsity contributions for Sprague's basketball teams. (From left) triplets Trent, Ashlyn and Taylor Roos hold sibling Jami.
Derek and Michelle Roos have a problem.
With four children playing varsity basketball between Sprague High School's boys and girls teams, and the teams usually playing at different gyms on the same night, the parents have a dilemma.
"We've been awestruck, quite honestly, because it's never something that you imagine is going to happen," said Michelle, the only member of the family who hasn't played competitive basketball. "It's been exciting and a neat experience for us.
"The most frustrating part with Salem-Keizer athletics is we can't be at all of their games. We try to divide and conquer it. He takes one set of kids and I take the other."
Sisters Ashlyn, a junior, and Jami, a freshman, play for the girls squad while Ashlyn's triplet brothers Trent and Taylor do the same for the boys.
All four of the siblings have led their team in scoring at one game or another this season.
It becomes apparent quickly that basketball is the family's sport.
"Bottom line is they're very passionate about basketball and they're very passionate competitors," Sprague boys coach B.J. Dobrkovsky said. "They've been groomed as they came up ... here's a basketball, you're going to do something with it. It's never been forced on them, it's something their family enjoys.
"If they have an off night, their family night is spent over at Western Baptist or Willamette. They enjoy going to watch games, it's just the family mentality."
Derek played basketball at Corban College -- then Western Baptist -- and Michelle is the business manager for the Courthouse Basketball Academy.
Basketball is what this family does.
"We've also been playing this game for almost our whole lives," Trent says. "This is the time and we're all ready to just help our team out and get some wins."
Ashlyn played on Sprague's varsity team as a sophomore last year, but this year the four oldest Roos siblings all made it to the varsity level.
Trent and Taylor are both 5-foot-10 guards: Trent is a point guard and Taylor is a shooting guard. Ashlyn is a 5-4 point guard and Jami is a 5-5 shooting guard. Youngest brother Corey is in the fifth grade.
Ashlyn and Jami have often been on the same team, as have Trent and Taylor.
"I think it's helped playing together because we're always competitive, but I think we help each other out," Ashlyn says of her connection with Jami. "I think we just have that connection on the court in wanting to do what's best for each other. I think it helps us out playing together."
Ashlyn's game has made a big leap from her sophomore season.
"She played for the Monarchs tournament team over the summer and got to play that point guard role there," Sprague coach Allison Galvin said. "She worked hard in our summer league and went to camps and whatnot.
"There are times when she's, 'What to I do here and what do I do here?' but she wants to be the best she can be. She's probably one of the most coachable girls I've ever seen and that's what makes a good point guard."
Jami has the added benefit of playing basketball with her older siblings for most of her life, which helped her become a rare freshman that plays on the varsity team at Sprague.
"Growing up with us always being older than her, she always had the advantage of competing against older people," Taylor says. "It definitely got her more prepared for high school."
The boys are far from being physically overwhelming, but make up for it with their work ethic and love of the game.
"The biggest thing about them is they're so passionate about the game," Dobrkovsky said. "They love being in the gym, they're always the first one here. You got to drop kick them just to get them out of the gym and that's fun.
"For us as a program, we want guys that want to be passionate, want to be in the gym, want to play the game. That's the biggest thing they bring to the basketball floor, but they also bring it to their school and to life just because they're so charismatic that people just love being around them."
Derek has coached the children on youth teams and the kids have learned a great deal from their father.
"He coached us through our whole lives, not always on the team, but on the sideline or in the stands," Taylor said. "Just him telling us stories of when he played influenced us to start playing and competing as hard as we can."
Their father can still show the kids how the game is played.
"He still comes and plays with us when we go down to Courthouse or The Hoop and shoots around, sometimes scrimmages with us," Jami said. "It's cool to have that guidance for us, too."
When the kids get together, it's almost always the boys vs. the girls.
"We make fun of them a lot, but they're used to it," Trent says. "They're used to being around us, playing with us."
The boys usually win, but the girls have taken their share of wins.
"I was always kind of the leader, you could say, kind of a mom, too. I always bossed them around a little bit," said Ashlyn, the only of the siblings without braces. "They were always like girls can't beat me in basketball and we did sometimes, Jami and I."
The siblings have never played on the same team, but that could happen at next summer's Hoopla.
"Like a family team, we have considered that," Taylor says. "A couple years ago at Hoopla, we won the championship
"With our 17 and under recreational team," Trent adds.
"But I think in time when we get a little older, we'll probably do a family league," Taylor concludes.
For once, the parents would be able to watch all of their kids play at the same time.