Texas High School Has 6 Sets Of Twins Playing Basketball

The basketball players for a Texas high school are bringing new meaning to the term “double dribble.”

That’s because six sets of twins play hoops for the boys and girls squads at Splendora High, north of Houston. That’s 12 players out of a total of 65 athletes at the school.

Also, both of the school’s basketball coaches have twin children: Oscar Kendall, the girls’ coach, is father to twin sisters, while boys’ coach Jason Vela has a boy-girl set, according to “Inside Edition.”

Coaching twins can be a challenge, Kendall admits ― but mostly for the referees.

“There [have] been some scenarios when a player does [something] ... and the ref has to do a double take, he has to double-check the number,” Kendall told “Inside Edition.”

Identical twins and point guards Jannet and Jaquelin Reyes, 15, told Houston television station KTRK they are able to just give the other a look and know where to go on the court.

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Twins Are Multiplying

Nope, you don’t need an eye exam — you really are seeing double. According to a recent CDC report, the birth rate for twins has increased a whopping 76 per cent since 1980. In fact, one in every 30 babies born in 2009 was a twin (compared to 1980, when the rate was one baby in every 53). What’s with the binary-baby boom? One factor contributing to the upsurge: The age of mothers has trended up over the years, and a woman in her thirties is more likely to have twins than someone in her twenties, according to the study’s lead author, epidemiologist Joyce Martin, MPH. However, while age is an independent risk factor for twins, it also tends to correlate with increased use of fertility treatments, which was likely the biggest contributor to the spike in twin births.

Yep, There's a ‘Twin Gene’

Know any families with multiple sets of multiples? There may be a scientific explanation behind all that multiplying — hyper-ovulation. If a woman inherits a certain gene that causes her to hyper-ovulate (meaning she’s more likely to release multiple eggs during ovulation), her chance of having fraternal twins — which are produced from two separate eggs — increases. And since that gene is, well, genetic, parents may also pass it on to their kids, making it possible for twins to run in the family (and perhaps even for twins to have their own little sets of twins). However, there’s no known gene linked to identical twins — which results when one egg splits in half — so this twin type isn’t hereditary. And what about that long-held idea that twins tend to skip a generation? According to an explanation in The New York Times, the theory may have gotten its roots since only women are affected by the hyper-ovulation gene (since men don’t ovulate) — but men can in fact pass it on to their daughters (hence, seemingly “skipping” a generation).

Twins Can Be Born Years Apart

Reuben Blake (pictured left) is 5 years old. His twin sister Floren? She’s about 2 months old. Huh? Reuben and Floren’s parents Simon and Jody Blake were having trouble getting pregnant, so they tried in vitro fertilization (a process in which a woman’s eggs are fertilized outside of her body and then implanted in her uterus). Two embryos were implanted in Mrs. Blake (only one of which was successful — Reuben!), and the couple decided to have the other three embryos frozen. A few years later, they implanted another embryo and nine months later, Reuben’s twin sister was born. "It does depend how you interpret the term 'twins' — twins generally means that they are born at the same time,” Valentine Akande, MD, lead clinician and director of fertility services at the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine, told The Telegraph. "But, yes, twins in that they have come from the same batch of embryos, collected from the same treatment cycle — so twins born at a different time."

Twins Can Have Different Dads — and Be Different Races

Okay… twins can be of different ages — but they’ve got to have the same set of parents, right? It’s rare, but it is possible for a woman to release two eggs during ovulation and then get impregnated by two different men at the same time — also known as heteropaternal superfecundation. In fact, about 1 to 2 per cent of all fraternal twins have different dads, Hilda Hutcherson, MD, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University, recently told Today.

Some Twosomes Speak ‘Twin Talk’

If you’ve ever seen two young siblings readily conversing in complete gibberish, you likely witnessed idioglossia — an autonomous language often created and shared between twins (remember that YouTube video of two chatty, 18-month old twins that went viral in 2011?). According to research published in the journal Institute of General Linguistics, about 40 per cent of twins invent their own languages. The researchers believe that super-close siblings (they don’t actually have to be twins, but usually are) sometimes use each other as models for learning vocabulary, applying meaning to sounds — even if those sounds are complete nonsense. Usually their special lingo disappears as their vocabulary expands and by the time they start school, but not always.

Twins Start Bonding in Mom's Belly

No wonder twins share such an unbreakable bond — they get a head start on the rest of us. Researchers from University of Padova in Italy recently studied 3D ultrasound videos of five sets of twins in the womb. When the fetuses were just 14 weeks old, the researchers noticed that the pairs seemed to be reaching out for each other, touching head to head and arm to head. At 18 weeks, they were stroking each other more often and were in physical contact about 30 per cent of the time. Even more phenomenal, the fetuses seemed to be extra gentle when touching around their siblings’ eyes (likely because this area is so delicate, the researchers posit).

There's a Twin-Inducing Diet

Want to have twins? Stock up on cheese and start chugging milk. According to a study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine by Gary Steinman, MD, PhD, an ob-gyn at Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., women who consume dairy products may increase their chances of conceiving twins. When Dr. Steinman looked at the twin birth rates of vegans (who don’t eat any animal products, including dairy) compared to non-vegans, he discovered that the latter group was five times more likely to have two little bundles of joy.

One Brazilian Town Is Booming With Multiples

The small South American town of Cândido Godói may just be the twin capital of the world. From 1959 to 2008, a whopping 8 per cent of births in São Pedro (one of the town’s villages), resulted in twins — compared to less than 1 per cent throughout the rest of the country.

When Twins Are Separated at Birth, Scientists Pay Attention

Thanks to the whole “nature vs. nurture” debate, twins who get separated at birth receive a whole lot of attention from researchers (would they have the same values? Health habits? Psychological patterns?). But because you can’t just split up twins in the name of science, very few studies have been able to track twins who live completely separate lives.

Identical Twins Aren't Exactly Identical

They come from the same egg and look so similar it can be impossible to tell them apart — but anyone who knows a set of identical twins knows that not they’re actually carbon copies of each other. And researchers are continuing to discover why identical twins aren’t quite as indistinguishable as once thought.

The World's Oldest Twins

204 — that’s the combined age of Ena Pugh and Lily Millward, a pair of British twins who both celebrated their 102nd birthdays on Jan. 4. And the duo had a whole lot to rejoice: The milestone landed them in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest twins on the planet. "They took great delight at seeing their picture in the Guinness Book of Records — they are both very proud of their title," Lily’s daughter Dianne Powell told the UK’s Sun. The pair spent the day together as they do almost every year, even though Lily was in the hospital with a broken hip. Broken hip or not, the two say they have lived healthy, happy lives (they still live in their own houses near Brecon, England). “We’ve been very lucky and we have always had good health,” Lily told the Wales News Service. But what’s their secret to a long, centenarian life? “Laughter and a good joke,” she said.

These Celebs Have Less-Famous Twins

Hunter Johansson (left). Michael Kutcher. Patricia Bundchen. Ever heard of them? Probably not — but we’re willing to bet you’re familiar with their fraternal twin siblings, Scarlett, Ashton, and Gisele. And these celebrities aren’t the only ones with other halves: 24’s Keifer Sutherland has a twin sister named Rachel; Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite has an identical double, Daniel; and Alanis Morissette shares a birthday with her brother Wade. Who knew?

Moms Living Longer?

After digging up the birth records of more than 59,000 women between 1800 and 1970, University of Utah researchers found that moms of twins tend to live longer than moms without twins.

More Than Just Two Types

There are more than just fraternal and identical twosomes; other rare twin types include “half identical twins” (when the egg splits and then each half is fertilized) and mirror image twins (identical twins who develop asymmetrically).

Unique DNA

Identical twins don’t have identical fingerprints.

Morning Sickness

Moms who are expecting two tend to have higher levels of morning sickness, likely because of increased levels of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG).

A 6th Sense?

One pair of conjoined twins share a “neural bridge” — and they can literally read each others’ minds, according to an article by The New York Times.

Solving The Mystery

Using an ultrasound isn’t the only way doctors can detect a twin pregnancy — some figure it out when they hear two tiny heartbeats through their stethoscope.

Double And Trouble

A study recently published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology reported that parents of twins are slightly more likely to get divorced than parents without twins.

Gaining The Pounds

Moms-to-be expecting one child tend to gain 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy. But if you’re pregnant with twins? You can expect to gain a whopping 35 to 45 pounds.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.