A lot of people grow up playing sports with their siblings, but not many can say they’ve done so at the post-secondary level like brothers Tyler and Royce Dhillon of the SFU men’s soccer team. Tyler, a fifth year centre/right back, and Royce, a second year winger, started playing soccer together when they were kids. “We both started really early, at around five or six-years-old, and we’ve just been playing ever since,” said Tyler.
In high school, both brothers continued their soccer journeys at Surrey United Soccer Club. In addition to difference in age, the two brothers bring entirely unique skill sets to the field with Tyler being “more of a defender,” and Royce “more of an attacker, [with] better dribbling.”
Tyler, who’s three years older than Royce, made his collegiate debut with the UBC men’s soccer team. He was signed by SFU in Summer 2020. When it came time for younger brother Royce to make a decision, he followed in his brother’s footsteps and also landed on SFU. The opportunity to have another chance to play together was warmly welcomed by the brothers. “I think we always talked about playing together at some point, and then it just kind of worked out this way where we both ended up at SFU,” said Tyler.
While there certainly are a lot of benefits to being able to play with one other, juggling two different student schedules are not one of them. “For scheduling, it does make it harder. Especially when you don’t live on campus“ said Royce. “We have to come, usually at different times for classes, so that would be one con.” While this certainly forces the brothers to find creative ways to coordinate their schedules, it’s not a terrible trade off for the opportunity to be able to play with each other. “I feel like the rest are just pros — being able to play together, always being together, and just having that assistance with classes and stuff.”
Tyler had nothing but good things to say about getting to go out on the pitch with his younger brother. “We’ve always played against each other growing up, so it’s nice to play together. We both push each other and we’re both very competitive.”
With pressure of playing at such a high level, we wondered if tensions ever built, culminating in the type of fight only siblings can have. “Not anymore,” said Tyler laughing. “Maybe when we were younger, but not anymore.” Another welcome aspect of competing alongside your brother? The post-game debriefs, says Tyler. “We always talk after games [ . . . ] we watch the game back and just see if there’s anything different we could have done, and try and talk about it together.”
Royce believes the sibling connection they share is a huge advantage on the field. Only a brother could know where the other is without needing to have eyes on the back of their head. “I feel like we both know how we are as players. When Tyler gets the ball from the back, he knows what movements I’m doing or where I’m trying to look for the ball,” Royce said. “We’re on the same page in that way a lot of the time.”
