Marina and Simone Scherer, the twins who left soccer to be figures in the Volleyball League

They are identical. From DNA to passion for volleyball. Marina and Simone Scherer wear the colors of their clubs to be able to differentiate themselves, since without them, people mistake them for each other. They are twin sisters and this Thursday at the Villa El Salvador Sports Center they will meet for the first time in a professional tournament. The duel between Alianza Lima and Universidad San Martín will have the same face on each side of the field.

They are 28 years old and are leading figures in the National Volleyball League. Center-back Simone is already in her fourth year on Peruvian soil – she previously played for Géminis and Vallejo – while setter Marina is playing her second season at the La Victoria club. They met again for this note after a month – their schedules do not match – and this Thursday they will meet again. But it will no longer be a meeting of sisters, rather a duel to find out who is the best.

They faced each other before, but when they were young, when volleyball was just presented as an option in their lives. “But we didn’t take it so seriously, now we do. It’s going to be a very difficult matchup because we’re sisters, but once we’re on the pitch we have to forget about that”, Simone tells us. As youth they met back in 2013-2014, when both went on to play in volleyball clubs. “It was different, there was no rivalry. Not like now that it is an Alliance-San Martín that is another level “Marina adds.

And that they began their sports life playing soccer. Marina, she began to practice it as a child, until she was 12 years old. Simone didn’t like it, but she accompanied her twin “so I wouldn’t be left alone”. Life had reserved this chapter for them.

When they moved and changed schools, a teacher invited them to practice volleyball. There he changed everything. “We played together until we were 15 years old. There each one played in the positions where they felt better and fortunately they were different, otherwise we would have had to dispute a position ”, Simone says wistfully.

Facing

And so they arrived in Peru. Simone in 2016, Marina last year. “I really liked the League. It is my fourth year here. People treat you well, the fans in the arena come up to greet you, to talk to you, to ask for a photo. I liked that passion for volleyball”, Simone tells us. And that was what Marina also highlighted, who has experienced volleyball in several countries, but in few she has experienced what is seen with the fans, especially those of Alianza. “Athletes like to be around people who are passionate about the same sport as us,” she tells us.

And each one has its goals. Marina with Alianza knows that the goal is the title, after two lost finals. “The idea is that, for history, for the shield, but we are going step by step,” she says.

For Simone, history aims to return San Martín to the level it had not long ago, when it won five titles between 2013 and 2019. “It has history. I saw sad what happened last year [el descenso] and now we are working hard to leave the San Martín up. We know the shirt we are wearing and we have to represent it very well”, he affirms.

This Thursday they will face each other, but for the future their wishes are to share a team in Peru. They already did it in 2021 in Portugal and they enjoyed it a lot, since they accompanied each other away from their family. “When the opportunity arises, we want to play together,” says Simone and adds the humorous touch of what it would mean. “We can confuse the referees, the coaches,” she says with a laugh. “We would like to play together, I don’t know if it’s next season or what comes next, but it would be very nice,” says Marina.

They already confuse them. Before greeting them, they don’t ask him for his name, but for the team he plays for to identify them. If she is from Alianza, she is Marina. If she is from San Martín, it is Simone. One of them will be the winner in the game but in the end, the two will hug each other like when they were girls and volleyball was a brief dream.

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