Pascale and Julie D'Huyvetter are the kind of sisters that do everything together. It comes as no surprise that Pascale, 26, and Julie, 24, have made sports no exception to that rule.

Whatever the sport was — swimming, gymnastics, water polo, horseback riding, basketball, skiing, snowboarding, volleyball or sailing — the D'Huyvetter sisters played together in some capacity. When Pascale, the oldest of four siblings, learned to ride a bike without the training wells, so did Julie, who was clearly not ready. But as one sister goes, so goes the other.

“Sometimes Pascale was better in a particular sport, other times I was the best but we were never bothered by it,” Julie said. “It was just that neither of us wanted to be left behind so there was always some healthy competition to keep up with one another. ... There were a few things that we did apart but it never lasted long.”

So when Pascale was presented with lacrosse while studying at Ghent University, her sister wasn’t far behind. Julie was looking for a new sport and decided to try her sister’s game in 2011.

As was the case with many of the sports the D'Huyvetters played, they were hooked on lacrosse. They started to play competitively for Ghent’s club team, and eventually made their way to the Belgium national team.

Pascale and Julie said their favorite experience playing lacrosse happened at the 2015 European Championships in the Czech Republic. They’ll be just as excited this week, as they head, together, to the 2017 FIL World Cup in Guilford, England as part of Belgium’s first appearance in the international tournament. Maybe not to win, but to be there to represent their country.

“We are so looking forward to playing these teams, even though we know that we will be on the losing end of a lot of our games,” Julie said. “We just want to play against great teams that challenge you to go beyond your limits and be exhausted afterwards.

“I really hope and expect that the game will continue to grow [in Belgium] and clubs will get even more professional,” Pascale said. “My dream is to get Belgium to the level and scale that other European countries are on already and being able to compete against the top European countries.”

Belgium is just one of seven new nations that will make their World Cup debuts in England this week. Check out the rest of the newcomers:

Colombia

Columbia finished 12th in its first women’s event, the 2015 FIL U19 World Championship, and will make its World Cup debut under the guidance of Peri West, the coach at Thomas College in Maine.

China

Led by coach Morgan Banaszek, who played club lacrosse at Loyola, China makes its first appearance on the women’s senior stage. Banaszek’s studies led her to China, where she is the director of women’s lacrosse.

Italy

Italy’s men’s team made its debut in the 2010, but it’s the women’s time to take the world stage. The Italian women finished ninth out of 17 teams in the 2015 Euro Championships.

Mexico

Former Virginia midfielder Daniela Eppler used to travel to Mexico City with her mother, Cecilia, who was doing research in low-income hospitals in rural areas. Now she’s a player-coach for the Mexican national team.

Spain

What started as a group of friends playing lacrosse has turned into a seven-team Spanish league and championship. Spain competed in the 2015 Euros and has fundraised for months to make its first World Cup appearance.

Switzerland

Meike Henningsen and Okka Thörner flew in from Hamburg, Germany, once a month to train the Swiss national team. Switzerland played in the 2011 and 2015 Euros.