Sports can sometimes be a family affair. This has been the case for the Creighton family as Archbishop Carroll head basketball coach Chuck Creighton and his daughter Meghan, a senior and All-Area Team point guard at Carroll, have shared a long road of basketball together.
Their basketball journey dates back to when Meghan was 6 years old and she was coached by her father in the West Chester League, and it has continued all the way through this 2011-2012 basketball season.
“I loved it; it was an awesome experience,” Meghan said. “It was a pleasure to have him as a coach.”
Fast-forwarding to 2011-2012, Archbishop Carroll recently finished a dream season by making it as far as the state finals and becoming the PIAA Class AAAA champion with a final record of 29-2.
“It was a great year,” Chuck Creighton said. “We played as a team. The girls really bought into the system. It showed. We won because of that.”
Basketball is a predominant sport in the Creighton household. Meghan has three older brothers who have a long history of playing basketball, and she has been going to practices and games for as long as she can remember. She recalls early memories of practicing by dribbling balls on the floors of various gymnasiums.
“We’d always be in the gym,” Meghan said. “It was natural for me. Dad coached me since I was little. My mom and aunt coached me.”
“We would always watch teams together,” Chuck Creighton said. “She learned a lot from her brothers. She developed into a good player.”
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When Meghan had her first experience playing basketball in the West Chester Junior Basketball program where she played on a team with three other girls and the rest of her teammates were boys. West Chester turned out to be the only team in the area that could beat a team from Chester Junior Basketball. Chester’s players have all continued their careers and have had a remarkable season as well at Chester High School.
After several years of playing at this level, Meghan moved on to play CYO basketball at St. Agnes School in West Chester.
As the father of several basketball players, Chuck Creighton has been a coach for the past 20 years. In 2007, he took over the girls’ basketball program at Archbishop Carroll, one year before his daughter entered high school.
As Meghan began Carroll and the next chapter of her basketball career, she and her father were honored to know they would be back together as a coach and a player for the same team.
“She handled it well,” Chuck Creighton said. “She was very mature.”
What a chapter it turned out to be for both of them. In all four years, the Lady Patriots made it to the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game and won it each year except 2011. They also won the Districts all four years. In addition to this past season, Carroll made it to the States in 2009.
“It’s been pretty special,” Meghan said. “Looking back on it, it’s really been incredible.”
Although Meghan will be graduating this year, her father plans to continue his coaching career at Carroll. Meghan will be taking on her next challenge as she and teammate Rachel Pearson will be teammates and roommates at Drexel University. They will also reunite with former teammate Holly Mershon who will be a senior at Drexel.
“It will be fun to be back together again,” Meghan said. “I just hope to learn more about the game. Hopefully, in four years we can win the championship. It goes quicker than you think.”
Dan McCarty is a freelance writer and a member of St. Pius X Parish in Broomall.
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