Wouldn’t life feel a whole lot easier if there were two of you? One to handle the grind, the other to have your back when things get messy? That’s exactly what Ohio State scored in July 2013. Basically, a two-for-one deal with sisters Chelsea and Kelsey Mitchell. But that bond didn’t start in Columbus. It started in their mother’s womb back on November 12, 1995, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two have had an exceptional bond growing up.
Let’s dive deep into it…
Who Is Chelsea Mitchell? Introducing Kelsey Mitchell’s Twin and their bond
Chelsea Mitchell is an explosive basketball player, kind of like her sister, even though she never made her way to the WNBA. Instead, for most of her career, she has played in Europe. After that, she eventually put her coaching hat on. It made sense, as of the two, Chelsea was always the one with an outgoing personality, whereas Kelsey Mitchell was more introverted. And they carried that dynamic straight to their Buckeyes days.
Chelsea put it simply: “I was more her support system. At the end of the day, I got you. … I was her mouth, because nobody was going to talk down on her. Nobody was gonna make her get out of her game. Nobody was gonna do any of that because we’re just here to play basketball and go to school.” With that kind of built-in backup, Kelsey Mitchell absolutely dominated on the court. By the time her college career wrapped, she was a three-time Big Ten Player of the Year, a four-time All-American, and the No. 2 scorer in NCAA history.
Moreover, it’s safe to claim that the bond is still very much alive. It popped back into the spotlight recently, after a Facebook post blew up at the end of last month. User Steve Brown posted side-by-side photos of Fever stars Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston. He paired it with a blunt caption: “Clark’s delusional fans can stay mad and call me all the names in the book, but we all saw (including y’all) who carries my Fever team and we all know who the offense should be run through. Whether you like it or not, these two players can win some games without Clark, but Clark can’t win a single game without them. #ArgueWithYaMomma.”
The post was already stirring debate. But what sent it viral was Chelsea Mitchell having Kelsey’s back. On July 1, Chelsea reposted it to her own Facebook page with a pointed caption: “I gotta agree!” However, where does this solidarity stem from? Easy answer: from their upbringing.
Chelsea and Kelsey Mitchell’s Parents
“I’m the blueprint of what he taught. It’s all of me.” Kelsey Mitchell famously said about her father. Mark Mitchell was a player, coach, and mentor on her basketball journey. She once shared that “I love my mama like no other, but the love of hoop my Dad and I shared was just a tad bit different. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl and loved my dad to the core.” Due to her outgoing nature, everyone around the twins assumed that Chelsea would be the one going ahead in their athletic career. However, their father always had faith in Kelsey’s abilities.
He taught her the basics of hooping, on which she is still dominating the court. After Kelsey got a minor injury while playing with her siblings in the backyard, Mark approached it patiently. He shared, “We realized that (the injury) is probably not that serious and we tell her, ‘now if you’re gonna go out there and play with them, you will have to play through some things.’” He added, “And I guess the rest is history because she’s been playing through things for the last 20, 21 years.”
As for their mother, Cheryl (Palmer) is originally from Orange Mound. Even though she never actively coached Kelsey, she was a decorated basketball player herself. Cheryl transferred to Eastern Kentucky from Mississippi Valley State and was the seventh top rebounder for her school. Cheryl once said, “She would just go with her dad everywhere, and her brothers. She’d just go, and she’d follow, and she always had a basketball. I don’t care what gym, wherever we were, she always had it. Even when we were at the house, she always had a ball.” Wait, brothers?
The Mitchell Family: Two Sets of Twins
The Mitchell house wasn’t short on siblings. “I have twin brothers, Kevin and Cameron, they’re 32,” Kelsey told The Players’ Tribune. “My mama had two sets of twins — Kevin and Cam, Kelsey and Chelsea. Two Ks, two Cs. (Yes, haha, she’s a soldier.)” They grew up together, playing basketball in the backyard of their suburban Cincinnati home. Kelsey Mitchell once shared that she used to “sit in my big jersey at the end of the bench at my brothers’ rec basketball games, kind of like a mascot, getting water for them. “
While she did that, her sister Chelsea “would go do cheerleading stuff — I knew for sure I was not into that (No offense, sis! Lol). So I chose to sit on the bench and found myself falling in love with the game.” That’s where her love affair with the game began. It was the moment when her brothers’ squad was short on a player because he fouled out. They needed 1 more player, and at just 4 years old, Kelsey subbed in. That’s when she “found something I truly loved. It was like hoop became a love language between me, my twin, my brothers, my mama, and my dad, because we all love it the same way.”
Summary Table: The Twin Sisters at a Glance
Aspect
Chelsea Mitchell
Kelsey Mitchell
Date of Birth
November 12, 1995
November 12, 1995
Role in Family
Vocal supporter, outgoing twin
Reserved, record-setting athlete
Basketball Career
Ohio State (supporting player)
Ohio State (star player), (Indiana Fever, WNBA)
Social Media Role
Advocate, vocal on Facebook
Focuses on play, less vocal in debates
The post Who Is Kelsey Mitchell’s Twin Sister Chelsea? Inside the Fever Star’s Unbreakable Sibling Bond appeared first on EssentiallySports.