When the Yahtzee dice or Monopoly board comes out at the Ewert house, hit the deck. Even innocuous board games can stir a competitive fervor similar to an NCAA championship.
Which is understandable, considering that when they are all together there are six athletes under the same roof.
“Yahtzee gets very intense,” said Jordan Ewert, the second-oldest of the four siblings. “And I don’t know how it gets intense considering it’s just a dice game of chance.”
And the card game Nerts? Forget it.
Thomas Ewert, the father of the flock, won’t even play.
A distance runner in his heyday, Thomas is the most laid back of the Ewerts, and he, said his wife, Donna, prefers to keep his distance.
“We’re a boisterous group when we start to compete,” Donna said. “He is very quiet, not a pushy guy. And you get a bunch of people in there who are pushy, there are certain games that he is like, ‘Nope. I don’t want to play that.’ ”
But when the dust settles, the Ewerts return to being a tight-knit family who share the bond of volleyball:
— Jessica, at 30, the oldest sibling, was an accomplished player at the high school and club levels.
— Jordan, 26, played at Stanford, where he was second-team All-MPSF as a senior, and then three years professionally in Germany. This season, the 6-foot-4 outside hitter will move to the French club Saint-Nazaire. He’s on the USA 30-player Volleyball Nations League roster but hasn’t traveled to the first two rounds.
— Jenna, 23, was a setter at Colorado — she eclipsed 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs in her career — before spending her fifth year at Texas, where she won a national title last fall. She will play professionally for German club Munster this season.
— Josh, a 6-foot-4 19-year-old, is the “baby” and will enter his sophomore year at UC San Diego in the fall. Last season, he earned Big West All-Freshman honors despite being slowed by mono.
“To me, it’s really special, but it’s also normal,” Jenna said. “I don’t think we appreciate it as much as we should, but it’s something that we … we all have this bond, and we all have gone through these similar experiences.
“It’s a really cool lifestyle.”
Even if it gets a little competitive.
Mom paves the way
The Ewert kids agree: Their competitive streak comes from their mother. Nerts brings out the best (worst?) in her.
“She’s relentless in…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Volleyballmag.com…