Claire Meadows, Artsci/PHE’07, is off to a strong start in her inaugural season as the Queen’s Women’s Basketball head coach. Despite interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Gaels sit in ninth spot in the U SPORTS rankings and are preparing for the U SPORTS Women’s Final 8 national championships, which begin March 31.
Meadows lauds the decision to host the Final 8 tournament later this month in Kingston because it serves as both a celebration of the women’s basketball program at Queen’s and a remarkable opportunity for players.
“For our student athletes to be able to play on their home court at the national championship is a massive opportunity. It's great that the basketball community gets to come to Kingston, to see the Queen's campus, and the high-performance athletic centre. This is a huge opportunity for our program to be able to showcase what we have here.”
The decision to host the tournament is an example of the institutional support that is too often missing from women’s sport, according to Meadows. She laments that broadcasters only promote the U SPORTS national championship, both denying the continuous coverage necessary to build an audience and ignoring the excellence that is on display year-round in women’s competitions.
Excellence is something Meadows has experienced firsthand. A celebrated shooting guard and Canadian Interuniversity Sport All-Canadian nominee during her time as a Queen’s student, she also won a U SPORTS national championship as an associate head coach with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in 2020. Meadows connects the success she has experienced in university sports with the recent triumphs of Canada’s national women’s soccer and hockey teams at the Olympics, and the program best International Basketball Federation (FIBA) ranking for the women’s national basketball team. “We're getting the job done,” she notes.
While sports fans have celebrated these recent successes, the achievements of women’s athletes cannot be maintained without sustained financial support, according to Meadows.
“We need support, we need backing, and we need people to step up and invest their money, so we can continue to be as great as we are right now.”
Celebrate International Women's Day by supporting women's basketball at Queen's. Make a gift
