West Ranch alumnus Andrew Meadow was feeling good coming into hosting his first basketball camp on Sunday at Golden Valley High School.
So good that Meadow put on a show in warmups, where he made 71 of 76 shots in front of his approximately 30 campers.
Meadow returned home for a week from Boise State, the school where he chose to embark on his dreams and play collegiate basketball. The former Wildcat has been part of dozens of camps but was amped to return home to host his own before beginning college in a week.
“It feels amazing just being able to have my own camp,” Meadow said. “It’s been a couple of weeks since it was announced but this morning, it really hit me. I was like, ‘Dang, a couple years ago I was in someone else’s camp and now these kids are really coming to my own camp. I have to make sure I make a good impression on them.’”
Campers ages 5 to 17 joined the Bronco in drills, scrimmages and a fun morning of basketball training.
The kids broke off into groups to play one-on-one for the later part of camp, and eventually went at it with everyone in camp watching. The winners of each age group’s one-on-one earned a Boise State shirt from Meadow.
The Bronco has been training with local basketball trainer and former pro Taylor Statham for nearly eight years. Statham has seen Meadow’s game grow exponentially in their near decade together.
“Man, it’s surreal,” Statham said. “It’s crazy to see him here and speaking to and inspiring all kids, looking at them the same way he was looking at me and Travis (Divita, another local trainer). When I first started coaching him, I was still a young guy and I just finished college. I had just started playing overseas, so I was just like him. I was just trying to figure it all out, but also, trying to reach back and help everybody else.”
Statham is one step closer to seeing his protege accomplish his dreams of playing college basketball and with a work ethic like Meadow’s, it was only a matter of time.
“Nobody has a work ethic like him,” Statham said. “I feel like that’s why we clicked so well because I made it as far as I did just because of my work ethic and my intensity. From the earliest age, he just embraced it and he just wanted to be coached and every step of the way, no matter how good people tell him he is, no matter the accomplishments, he just stayed hungry for that next thing. He is never satisfied.”
Meadow fell in love with basketball when he was 7 years old but went all in as a player in his early teens. Statham helped him incline with the sport he loved and pushed him into being the force he is today.
“He told me all these big dreams he had and I’d always tell him, ‘Drew, if you’re really that good, you’d have 30 points whenever you want to,’” Statham said. “‘You’re a little slow and it doesn’t seem like you give full effort all the time.’”
The next summer, Meadow averaged 30 points a game in his eighth-grade season.
After the camp, the Bronco sat down with the campers and answered questions about life, school and basketball.
One participant asked Meadow about any tips to make their high school teams.
“Just go into every practice and work your hardest,” Meadow answered. “You don’t have to score a lot of points. Just work your hardest on offense and defense.”
Meadow has flashed elite defensive skills but is also no stranger to scoring a lot of points. In his first collegiate-level game, the freshman posted 31 points in an exhibition against Trinity Western in Canada.
“(Boise State) is the perfect fit,” Meadow said. “I think I have a really good role on the team. I just have to keep proving myself every single day. We have a bunch of guys that all love to win and it’s just a great group of guys who all get along.”
The former Wildcat has been on campus at Boise for several weeks already. Now with 24-hour gym access, he gave himself a personal goal of hitting 20,000 shots in six weeks. He accomplished it by making over 500 shots a day.
Basketball is on the rise in the Santa Clarita Valley, and Meadow has played a role in that, becoming the first Division 1 player to come out of the area in over six years.
“When I was younger, obviously basketball wasn’t prominent out here and I really wanted to put like whatever school I go to on the map,” Meadow said. “Obviously last year with the help of my teammates, we did that. Now it just keeps growing and growing.”
Meadow has since returned to Boise and will start his athletic and academic collegiate path. His one piece of advice for campers if they could only take away one thing: Just work hard.
“Every single time you step on the court, take advantage of it,” Meadow said. “You have to work as hard as you can. That’s how I got here. Every single workout, you have to go as hard as you can.”
