The Mewis sisters both went to the top. Those who know them explain how.

With Sam bringing down the curtain on her career and Kristie's still going strong, the coaches who played big roles in helping them along the way reflect on their incredible journeys...

Sam and Kristie both have enjoyed top-level careers. Image: US Soccer

“It’s beyond rare,” says Fred Marks, reflecting on the careers of sisters, Kristie and Sam Mewis.

“There’s not many sisters in sport who both reach that level. It’s interesting, because they were somewhat different. They don’t look exactly the same, they don’t play exactly the same, but two players out of the same family? I wish they’d had five more!

“But it’s not lost on me, it’s very special.”

Marks is well placed to offer an insight into the paths Kristie and Sam have been on, as one of their first coaches at the youth soccer club he set up himself in Massachusetts - Scorpions.

Having just taken on a coaching role at a local high school with what he admits himself at the time was a “terrible programme”, the competitive side of him which “didn’t want to keep losing” saw him go his own way, leading to the creation of Scorpions SC.

“Within a week I said to Bob ‘I think your daughter’s a genius’…”

Little did he know at the time, but not far away in the small town of Weymouth, not one but two young girls who would go on to be future national team stars for the USA were tightening their studs.

Marks launched Scorpions in 1998, and in just its second year, a former teammate of his by the name of Bob Mewis came calling with a proposal for his eldest daughter, Kristie.

“The parents got in touch and immediately you could tell Kristie was different in her athleticism and mentality,” he recalls. “She became our best player in that age group, but she was on a good team too. She was a great little girl, very polite. She took over most games and she was very competitive too. Strong, fast, completely left-footed and that went on for a while.

“A couple of years later I passed the team on, but Bob asked if they could bring their little one over. So, Sam shows up, she was about nine I think, and the league didn’t start until under 12s, but she was as good as any of them and I could tell immediately this was different.

“Kristie was great, Sam had some other dimension that I hadn’t seen before and within a week I said to Bob ‘I think your daughter’s a genius’. He said he wasn’t ready to go there, but I said I was serious, she understood things instinctively that I couldn’t even teach under 16s.”

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Suddenly, Marks was tasked with a club he laughs “hardly ever lost”, with elder Mewis in one team and younger Mewis in another, two future stars of the game put Massachusetts and Scorpions on the map, and this was only the beginning.

“Kristie was a handful. Fast, super skilful. Sam was more competitive, controlled games. They were both very special and Sam’s team was number one in the USA for much of her youth career.

“Kristie was one of the best players I’d ever seen, then it was the same with Sam. Kristie isn’t a lot smaller, she’s very sturdy and very strong. Sam was lanky, but she didn’t use the physicality like Kristie did at that time. They were both eye-poppingly skilful.

“Once in a while there would be a team with a player who could match them, but not often.”

He adds, “I don’t take any credit, they were just gifted. Their dad was their town coach, he played in the league I played in back when we were younger and I think that’s why he called me originally. He had a lot to do with both of their developments, but they were both going to be special either way.”

The Mewis sisters both started their careers with Scorpions in Massachusetts

A decade later, the Mewis sisters were already making waves, called up for the first ever Under 17 World Cup on the women’s side of the sport.

Kristie was 17, Sam 16, and both still representing Scorpions as they prepared to make big decisions in where they would go for college, and participated in a group for the tournament in New Zealand which also included a young Crystal Dunn and Morgan Brian.

“I was probably the first to get them both into the national programme at that level and they’ve gone and stayed in that world for many years,” says Kazbek Tambi, the USA head coach for that tournament.