Geneva basketball coach Sarah Meadows drives her players to ‘be the best you can be’

Early in her freshman year, former Geneva guard Margaret Whitley quickly bonded with another person who shared similar competitive traits – her varsity basketball coach Sarah Meadows.

Whitley started her highly successful career on the varsity team, a Day 1 starter who would help lay the foundation for one of the most decorated stints in program history. Whitley said she immediately formed a tight relationship with Meadows when she realized both possessed an ultra-competitive gene.

“Coach is very competitive,” Whitley said. “I believe that was the reason she understood me so well. Her competitive nature was directly in line with mine. She knew where my fire and grit came from on a personal level because she was the same way as a player and coach. Her competitive fire was fueled by winning during my entire time at Geneva. Her expectations were to win and leave everything you had on the floor, regardless of who we were playing. She instilled the energy, fight and competitive nature for those teams I was a part of.”

Whitley and Meadows forever will hold a special place in Geneva program history. Whitley, who just concluded a five-year playing career at Alabama-Birmingham and plans to move back to the Geneva area in May, played a leading role in carrying the Meadows-coached Vikings to back-to-back Class 4A state championships in 2017 and 2018.

Whitley said Meadows, who also is a physical education teacher at Geneva, inspired and pushed her to reach another level in her basketball career.

“She was an incredible mentor for me and somebody that I will always look up to,” Whitley said. “From the start of my freshman summer, she instilled confidence in me as a person and a player, even when I did not have it myself at times being so young. Throughout my career at Geneva, she consistently invested in me and showed me what it took to be successful. She showed me it took more than just skill, but leadership, communication and selflessness. This was instilled in us every day as our motto was “Team together.” This carried importance throughout my entire career. … Coach Meadows was the greatest mentor I could have asked for playing high school basketball.”

Meadows, a 1997 Rochelle High School graduate who played softball, basketball and volleyball and ran cross country, forged her winning mentality and the framework for building teams at an early age.

At 5-foot-2, Meadows wasn’t blessed with extraordinary height, forcing her to rely on athleticism, toughness, intelligence and will to succeed to become a stellar point guard. She played basketball for two years at Division II Benedictine College, just outside of Kansas City.

Even in high school, Meadows said she wanted to become a coach to help mentor young student-athletes.

“I love working with young people,” Meadows said. “I love all the different personalities that I work with daily. I love building relationships with my students and players. I just enjoy being around them. I really don’t remember ever wanting to be anything else but a teacher and a coach. I remember in middle school I did a paper on wanting to be a teacher and coach.”

She carried many of her high school traits to coaching. After winning consecutive state championships, Meadows has built Geneva into one of the top programs in the state. Her diminutive stature, combined with a booming voice full of gusto, always draws eyeballs toward Geneva’s bench.

Her passionate and caring coaching style instills a resolve in her players that leads to success in the playoffs.

The Vikings (31-4) advanced to the state semifinals for the fourth time in Meadows’ 12-year tenure this season on the way toward capturing a third-place trophy. Meadows, who has a 287-75 mark at Geneva, has won 19-plus games in 10 of her 11 full seasons. Before Meadows’ arrival, Geneva had one visit to state, a fourth-place finish in 2009.

Meadows prides herself on her relationships with her players and students.

“My coaching style is simple: Be the best you can be, and also be the best teammate you can be and have fun,” Meadows said. “I’m, for sure, a relationship coach. I want every kid to know how much I believe in them and how much I care about them.

“The skill, talent and X’s and O’s will follow. I want my players to know and feel how special they are to me and to each other. We are family and we try so hard to keep that family tradition so special. I’m fiery and passionate and want them to have the will to win. I enjoy being around the kids. My strength is the relationship side. I enjoy building relationships with my kids and being invested in them.”