Being one of four athletic sisters can be a blessing and a curse especially when you’re the youngest of the group. Just ask Dewar senior Talyn Been. A talented athlete in basketball and softball, Talyn has dealt with being the in the shadow of her sisters in her own way.

“I love being in a family of sisters because I always had them to look up to. I always considered them to be more athletic, so it’s been fun to try and reach their level,” said Talyn. 

And what makes the story even more unusual is that her oldest sister, Cheyenne (now Petrovic), is her softball coach.

“With our age difference (about 10 years) and different personalities, being her coach hasn’t been weird for me,” said Cheyenne. “Talyn is a leader by example on our team. She had a chance to watch all of us lead teams and has picked up some pointers. She tends to not be real vocal in her approach, unlike me and one of her sisters,” laughed Cheyenne who went on to play college softball and basketball. “Our dad coached all of us at some point and is still an assistant coach so high school sports have always been kind of a family affair for us.”

While having your sister as your coach is a bit unusual, Talyn says it worked out well for her.

“I like having Cheyenne as my coach because by the time she left and then came back, I was just starting to get into athletics,” said Talyn.

She plays a guard spot for the Lady Dragons in basketball and is the pitcher in slow pitch softball where she had an excellent season last year just walking five batters all season long. But Talyn has also blazed her own path as a pole vaulter where she finished second at last year’s Class A track meet in her first year of competition.

“Growing up I had decided I didn’t want to play college sports because that was my sisters’ thing and then I got into pole vaulting and fell in love with it because it was something that I did on my own where I wasn’t following them,” said Been who is also in cheer and student council while carrying a 4.0 grade point average, is in National Honor Society, class valedictorian and has already accumulated 27 hours of college credit in concurrent classes. She’s also active in her church’s youth activities.

Her college plans are still undecided, but Talyn says she would like to go somewhere that she can put her pole vaulting skills to use.