For Camas, Wash. sisters Chai (Chaitra) and Tish Parsons, playing for the Portland State University soccer team is just a natural progression.

“We both played soccer from the time we were little. After playing in high school, it just seems a natural extension. We've always thought we'd play the sport as long as we can,” said Chai, who will be an academic junior during this year and on the sidelines with a torn ACL.

In fact, it's more than that. The pair also is continuing a family soccer tradition.

They're part of a large soccer family where all seven siblings (including two older brothers and three younger sisters) are involved in soccer at one level or another. The older brothers are coaching now and the sisters are playing.

Six of the seven are playing or have played soccer at Camas High School, where they've created quite a splash as a soccer family, and a younger brother who is 11 is on the same track.

Playing together is another step in keeping up the tradition of friendly family rivalry, or it will be when Chai's ACL is repaired and she's able to play next season. Both are backs and, according to first-year head coach Laura Schott, “both are strong players and bring something that we want and need?their intelligence, their ability to communicate and their thoughts.”

They come by their family competition and athletic interest honestly as father Wayne Parsons was a multi-sport athlete in high school.

“We compete with all our siblings because it's fun and it's what we like to do,” said 18-year-old Tish, one of six freshmen getting playing time on the 2008 PSU squad. Both agree that soccer “is fun. Playing with the family, we both have a good time. Soccer is a challenging sport, mentally and physically,” they said.

Although dad was the athlete, they give mother Ardys Parsons credit for the family soccer tradition. “When all of us were little, mom wanted us to play a sport so she started us in soccer,” said Tish, who began playing when she was in grade school.

What Tish likes most about soccer is “the feeling of total concentration when I'm on the field. For me, it's a really peaceful place to be. I'm not caught up in a lot of other stuff.” For Chai, it's more about physical activity. “Kicking the ball or making a tackle. It's all satisfying. Soccer is just fun to do,” she said.

Tish doesn't enjoy running, but she gets a great deal of satisfaction from controlling the ball. Chai loves playing great defense, passing to a teammate, getting the ball to go where she wants. Her biggest challenge on the field is quickness. “I'm not that quick and I do a lot of drills to work on that,” she said.

Tish said she's inclined to “wander. I'll see the ball and wander along with the ball, forgetting about the person I'm marking.”

Chai is a transfer from Oregon State. She wanted to play closer to home and “having Tish decide on Portland State made it an easy decision. The whole family comes to all our games,” said the 20-year-old who wants to teach middle school history.

When PSU played the Beavers this year, Chai found being on the sidelines with PSU an interesting experience.

“It was kind of weird watching my new team play against people I played with last year, but I just watched it as if it were just another game,” she said.

Fall term had just started when this was written and Tish, who thinks she may want to teach math, is expecting the course work to be a lot more challenging than in high school.

“My goal is to find a good balance between soccer and studying and not get caught up in the college social whirl.” At that, Chai just smiled and said she thought she'd found a good balance.

Next year when their sibling rivalry gets a chance at another round, coach Schott thinks it will benefit the Vikings' on-field effort. “Communication is the key to back line play and they're both very good communicators. As I said, they're both strong players and both were on nationally-ranked club teams prior to coming to PSU.”