Jankowiak sisters relishing opportunity to play together with Kodiaks

By Lethbridge Herald on February 14, 2026.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

For Shari and Glenn Jankowiak, chaos didn’t even begin to describe what their lives looked like on a nightly basis.

Such is life for parents trying to support two kids who are multi-sport athletes. There were plenty of evenings dedicated to the divide and conquer strategy trying to get their daughters, Khloe and Kiara to their respective sports.

Khloe and Kiara are still playing multiple sports today for the Lethbridge Polytechnic Kodiaks. The main difference is that they are both able to play together on the Kodiak women’s soccer, futsal and indoor track teams.

In an interview with the Herald, Shari says the sisters have become as close as they’ve ever been as a result of playing together.

“They have been (close), but they would have their moments where they would fight like any other siblings, but certainly right now with living together, going to school together and playing sports together has definitely brought them closer for sure.”

There is a two year age gap between the Jankowiak sisters, but because of where their birthdays fall, there was a three year difference between them in school. As a result, when Khloe graduated from Catholic Central High School (CCH) in Lethbridge in 2019, her younger sister hadn’t even started at the school quite yet. Kiara also graduated from CCH in 2022.

Growing up, both sisters were involved in basketball, volleyball and soccer along with pretty much every other school sport that they had the time to be involved in. 

The sisters united in Lethbridge ahead of the 2024-25 ACAC season. Kiara played basketball for the Medicine Hat College Rattlers for one year in 2022-23 before deciding to return home and join the Kodiak soccer team.

Khloe had stepped away from playing soccer after playing for the Kodiaks in 2019. She returned to the Kodiak soccer program shortly after Kiara had signed with Lethbridge.

Shari says it’s exciting to see her two daughters be able to play together.

“I think it’s awesome that they’ve had an opportunity to play for the same teams. In this case, they’re running both track and soccer, so it is actually fantastic. They were just far enough apart in age that they didn’t play on the same teams growing up. They played all the same sports through high school (from) basketball, volleyball, soccer, and they were never on the same team and they never played the same positions.”

Kiara is a goalkeeper for the Kodiaks on both the soccer and futsal team while Khloe is a reliable midfielder. Because of having to divide and conquer to drive to different sports, it wasn’t a common occurrence for Shari and Glenn to watch a game together. 

Now that the sisters are playing for the same team, Shari says she’s grateful to get to watch them play with Glenn.

“That’s the best part actually is being able to travel together and see them both play at the same time. They don’t ever have to fight over the same position. They got different positions so it’s fun to watch that way. Ki being a goaltender is a little tougher to watch. It’s a little more stressful for the mom. With Khloe being a holding or attacking mid, a little less risk.”

As the younger of the two, Kiara looked up to her older sister. She recalled watching Khloe do stunts effortlessly on the trampoline in the family backyard and being determined to be able to do one herself.

“She’d be doing backflips and I could never do a backflip even now. It’d make me so mad.” Kiara explained. “I would land on my head and she’d laugh and I’d be like that’s great, now I have to do it for sure. Even in practices like last year and this year, she’d be running in front of me. I’m like, I got to catch her because she’s faster than me, it would make me mad but it was nice to have that competition for sure. It makes me a better player.”

While the two sisters grew up under the same roof, they were often so overwhelmed with their own schedules that it became difficult to form a close bond as siblings.

“When we were growing up, we played five different sports at a time, running around with our heads cut off.” Khloe said. “We didn’t really cross paths. It was more like ‘good job and how’s the school going?’. It was pretty superficial and it was hard to kind of break past that barrier.”

Now that the two are playing together, Kiara says she’s gotten to see a different side to her older sister than she did growing up.

“I looked up to her through the years for sure. Being able to play on the same team, I definitely get to watch how she is as a leader, watch how she plays and it’s really inspiring. I get to see how she handles situations and it’s really nice to be able to have someone to turn to when I’m having a rough time on the court or just even after practice and I can talk to her about how I’m feeling and she’s always there.”

While Kiara looked up to Khloe while they were growing up, there are qualities that Khloe looks up to in her younger sister.

“She is by far the toughest person I’ve ever met in my life and that’s on and off the field.” Khloe told the Herald. “On the field it’s crazy, balls will come at her from every angle with elbows, knees and you name it and she handles it better than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. Even when I’m going on playing, I carry her grit because she’s our rock on our whole team and I think that is how she is for people outside of this as well. To have a sister like that, I’m beyond thankful and that is just a reflection of our parents as well. They’ve put in everything to us and given us so many opportunities and so I couldn’t be more grateful to have this opportunity to play with her.”

Both sisters are in their third year of eligibility with the Kodiaks this year. While the years of playing sports at the ACAC level together will come to an end sooner rather than later, Khloe says the time playing together with Kiara has made her want to have her sister by her side in life through thick and thin.

“I really hope to work with her almost as a team moving forward in life. I hope we work together in life forever. If I get to work with her in my occupation, our passions or even raising our families together. I genuinely hope that this relationship only flourishes more from this experience. There may be times where we don’t live in the same city or we step away but I only think that will make us closer.”

While Khloe and Kiara are putting in the work on a daily basis both athletically and academically, Glenn says it’s been incredible witnessing everything up close

“We’re super proud of them, the amount of commitment it takes to have jobs, go to school, play sports, and maintain what they’re doing is great.” he said. “We really appreciate the college, we appreciate (Kodiak coach) Mike (Racz)  and what he’s done and everybody here so they’ve been great for them so we appreciate that.” 

Other siblings to play on the same team for the Kodiaks in recent years include Tory and Taylor Smith (women’s soccer 2018-19), Hannah and Alexis Bradford (women’s soccer, present), Corny and Johnny Bergen (men’s volleyball, present), Rebecca and Emma Lowry (women’s basketball, 2016-17), along with Logan and Jordan Reiter (men’s basketball, 2011).