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Being a twin is a layered experience, especially for Michigan State’s Nardone brothers

Cy Nardone
Pictured a young Cy Nardone on the left and Kal Nardone on the right.

Kal Nardone is an MSU grad. His brother, Cy, will be one soon. Being part of each other’s journey has been…an adventure.

We live in an age of individuality. But being a twin, with my brother Kal, makes that nearly impossible, at least for me. I'm sure your first thought after reading that is, ‘Wow, they must look exactly alike.’”

We look similar enough that when I transferred to Michigan State, I had two different people confuse me for my brother in my first class. Yes, that actually happened.

I can't count the number of interactions that I have had with my brother during my life that have gone somewhere along the lines of this:

“We're twins,” Kal Nardone will say.

“Wow that’s so cool I wish I had a twin,” said too many strangers to count.

To which I always quickly reply:

“No, you don’t.”

I know what you're thinking. No, I dont hate my twin brother. Quite the opposite actually. I just don't think that being a twin is all it's cracked up to be. There are plenty of great parts about being a twin, but at the end of the day it can be hard..

My junior year of high school, I took the leap and decided to join the football team after two years of cross country. It took less than a week for my brother to follow me. Then that same winter he decided to join the wrestling team. I joined the team shortly after.

Do we blame each other for doing this? No, we have a lot of great memories from our times on those teams together, but it just shows how hard being or doing something different from your twin can be.

“What was I supposed to do? You know that we were both way too big to keep running cross country and I could see how much more fun you were having with football. So I figured why not give it a chance too,” Nardone said.

We were both raised Michigan State fans, so when it came to college it was obvious where we both dreamed of attending. While I didn’t get into MSU, Kal did. This only motivated me to work harder to be able to transfer. Eighteen months later, I was moving down the hall from him in Shaw Hall.

The point I'm trying to get across is that being a twin has its advantages, yes. I always had someone to play catch with growing up, and that was awesome. But it can be hard trying to be your own person when you have someone exactly like you walking around.

“At the end of the day, I know you always have my back and that I always have yours. Being twins just gives us so much closer of a bond which like we have talked about has its ups and down but I wouldn't change it. I think it's worked out pretty well for the both of us,” Nardone said.

While we have each found our own path in life, with Kal getting his certification in secondary education, I don't see life sending us our separate ways. The plan has always been to buy a house together.

Pictured at Kal’s Graduation from Michigan State May 2022.
Cy Nardone
Pictured at Kal’s Graduation from Michigan State May 2022.

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