PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI – Allyson and Chantelle Swaby are pulling off a rare sisters’ act in the Reggae Girlz shirt.

Though they are different in personality, these siblings bring a certain level of flair to the senior women’s football set up, as they aspire to make the World Cup dream a family affair.

Born in West Hartford Connecticut to parents Dianne and Lennox — both Jamaican natives — Allyson and Chantelle were always determined to make it big in football.

For these girls, football has always been their passion, and their lifelong dream was to always produce inspiring performances and win plenty of accolades whenever they take the field.

They have both achieved this goal by winning many titles during their respective careers at lower levels, but the bar has now been set higher with their football quest now aimed at international success.

It must truly be an amazing feeling when more than one child in a family plays on the same team, but for these girls it is nothing new as they both plied their trade together in various teams, including Connecticut Football Club (CFC).

They were also drafted to the United States National Youth Camp, and as such, never featured for Jamaica at the lower level. But as fate would have it, they are now charting a course in the senior women’s programme.

Allyson, the older of the two, was invited to camp with Jamaica’s team during their Olympic Qualifying campaign in 2015, but never featured during that time.

However, she believes the timing is now right, as she will be graduating Boston College on Monday and this opportunity will assist in her transition to the professional level.

“It was good timing for me because I am transitioning out of soccer for school, so it is good to get back into the swing of things as I hope to play professionally.

“So this was just something that is great to have under my belt playing in a competitive training environment, and so far it has been really great… most of the girls are experienced and I think in time we will all mesh really well together,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

For 21-year-old Allyson, who is a lively centre-back in the heart of the Reggae Girlz defence, says it is a great experience playing on the same team with her younger sister

“It is nice to have a familiar face in the team; we haven’t played side by side in a long time because usually they would split us up and one would go up top and one would go in defence,” shared the 5ft 8in defender.

Meanwhile, Chantelle, 19, who is the taller of the two standing at 5ft 11in, and is also a defender, takes comfort in having her older sister Allyson watching over her.

“I wasn’t playing soccer for like two weeks, so I was a little nervous coming in and wasn’t sure if I wanted to jump right into this (senior set up), so I tried to push it off a little bit but then I started thinking it would be a good experience so I decided to come,” the Rutgers University sophomore said.

While they both tried to be modest, a little sibling rivalry came to the fore in the shape of a healthy competition when the million dollar question was asked: ‘Who is better?

“She is probably more versatile than me because she has the ability to switch positions more than I do, but she knows better than to say she is better,” Allyson said, flashing that infectious smile.

— Sherdon Cowan