Egg Harbor Township’s ‘Little Meg’ Conover proves there are different kinds of superstars in high school sports

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Sometimes, high school basketball players enjoy celebrity status. The way they effortlessly drain 3-pointers from the corner, deliver no-look passes in the paint, or throw down thunderous dunks then put their finger to their lips to silence the crowd of haters from the opposing team’s bleachers. They attract legions of young followers who just want to be near them, and reporters crowd around them hoping for a good quote following another big win. Sometimes, they even get prom proposals while they are about to take a foul shot, like Quade Green of Neumann-Goretti in Philadelphia earlier this season. Egg Harbor Township sophomore Megan Conover has never scored a single varsity point during her high school career. And she stands just 4-foot-6. But she enjoys a celebrity status of sorts. More so at the Somers Point ShopRite, where her grandmother, Joan, takes her every week to do the family’s grocery shopping. Megan, a special education student who was born with cognitive delays, may never score a varsity point during her high school basketball career. But, boy, has she sure made an impact — at the school and in her community — already, at the ripe old age of 16. Try to find somebody in Egg Harbor Township who doesn’t like Megan Conover. Go ahead, try. You’d have better luck locating a palm tree in Nova Scotia. Often times it’s not easy for mainstream students to interact with special education students in a high school setting. It’s a natural instinct to be inclined to deal with students who have disabilities with kid gloves, so to speak. But there’s no way to avoid Megan. She’ll come right up to you, introduce herself and wants to know all about you. She’s sort of leading the charge to make the voices of special education students heard, even if she has no idea she is. That’s just Megan. She wants to be a part of the action, the center of attention. Conover is constantly practicing her basketball skills, and has mastered the art of dribbling two basketballs at once. “I touched base with coach Shutz and she said, ‘sure, we’d love to have her.’ The next thing you know she’s on the varsity bench and she’s right in the middle of everything and she’s loving it. And the seniors (last year) kind of took her under their wing. They’d call her up and ask her if she wanted to go to Friendly’s. It was just amazing,” Jim said. “One of the girls, Emily Baker, has become a close friend. She’s up in college at William Patterson and she texts Meg all the time just to see how her season it going. It’s just been unlike anything I could have ever expected. It’s been every bit the same this year. That stems from how wonderful Danielle (Brady), coach Rynk (Amy Rynkiewicz) and the other coaches are. They are wonderful to her.” “I didn’t even think she would be out on the floor. I thought if she could just go to practice with them that would be wonderful. I didn’t expect her to really get any minutes, but it’s nice to see that she is able to go out there and play,” said her mom, Renee. “It makes you cry. You’re thinking of all the things she has had to overcome, and here she is out there playing and doing something she loves. It really makes you think about all the kids who can’t do the things they want to do, and here she is having that opportunity. It’s a wonderful feeling.” Her sister said what has made the past two years so special for Megan is the way her teammates have responded. “They want her there as much as she wants to be there, and it’s great. I’m glad to see people are seeing it as a positive. She picks them up when they need it. She’s made really good friends from it as well,” Sara said. “There’s a girl from last year’s team (Baker) who still keeps in touch with Meg all the time. I think it’s great because they respect her and are happy to be her friend. It’s not a pity thing or anything like that. They like having her around and it’s really nice to see.” “I think they think it’s cool that I’m on the basketball team,” Megan said. “It’s exciting for me whenever we have a game. I tell them ‘we can do this! We can do this!'” Social awareness There is a phrase that is bandied about by people in their 40s and 50s quite often: “The kids these days, boy, they’re not like they used to be.” There is some truth to that, and that may be a good thing. High school athletes, and students who don’t play sports, are much more socially aware than teenagers have ever been. They are willing to see beyond a fellow student’s challenges and get to know that student on a personal level. And educators and coaches are using the example of Megan’s relationship with her teammates as a life lesson to the teenagers they mentor. “The girls at EHT have accepted her as a teammate, not because of her disabilities, but they see her as a normal player on the team. And she’s going to do whatever she can do help those girls be successful. I think it’s a touching story, it really is. To see the way that high school kids nowadays can be so mean at times, but to see how those young ladies have accepted her into their hearts, it’s really very cool to see,” said Brent Bean, who is the varsity baseball coach at Atlantic City but also coaches junior varsity girls basketball. “As a coach in multiple sports, you have to tell your players that it’s only a game and that there is so much more to life than just the game. As an educator and a coach, you try to make real-life connections to that.” Bean said that at Atlantic City High he has seen an increased level of maturity in the last several years with students when it comes to dealing with classmates who have challenges. “The students at our school have no problem with (special education students). They talk to them, say hi, ask them how they are doing. There’s a lot of compassion for students like that. I think it’s a lot more socially acceptable now compared to maybe five or 10 years ago,” Bean said. “The compassion of our young people these days is a lot greater than people give them credit for. Adults don’t give our young people enough credit. They have big hearts and they care for people, and it’s really nice when you can see that. Just being around (Megan) and seeing the way her teammates give her a high-five, she’s their teammate, and that’s how they view her.” Coach Brady said that there is no special treatment given to Megan. If she’s late, she must run laps just like anybody else. Problem is, Meg is never late. She’s always the first one there. “We don’t treat her as a martyr. We hold her to the same team standards as any other player and I think she appreciates that, too,” Brady said. Mahana said that because of Megan, and some of the other kids in Megan’s special education class and their willingness to interact, the mainstream students have learned a greater appreciation for students who face much greater challenges. That was seen this past fall, when EHT senior football player Angelo Branca took special education student Tyler Millett under his wing and helped him become an integral part of that sports program. Now ‘Coach T’ as he is referred to, gets to wear a jersey, be on the sidelines during games and help coaches with various tasks throughout the season. “We had a few of Megan’s classmates come in and we were talking to them, and it was really neat to see how much they knew about me,” Mahana said. “I’ve never met these kids before and they were coming up to me saying things like, ‘hey, you scored eight points last game.’ I was like, ‘that’s awesome, I didn’t know you knew that.'” Said Sara Conover, “She has one of the best personalities. She makes friends wherever she goes, she loves talking to people. She really does just make you happy when you are around her. It’s nice to see how you can bring so many people together through just one person, and everyone accepting it and liki
ng it that way.” Her mother said Megan’s willingness to initiate contact is really the driving force behind making interaction with special needs students such as Megan relatively easy for her classmates. “I think it’s wonderful. (The players) haven’t looked at her that differently. Even the players who in the beginning weren’t sure about her, she didn’t let them shy away from her,” Renee said. “She kept talking to them and kept that door open where they didn’t have the opportunity not to interact with her. She won’t let somebody walk away from her. She’ll follow them and keep after them until they do talk to her.” New perspective Perhaps the greatest gift Megan has given to her teammates is a new perspective on what it means to be an accomplished athlete, and why they should never take for granted the talents that they possess. “We had a tough loss against Mainland. I started off practice the next day by using Meg as an example. She was like, ‘yeah, I’d love to play! I would love to play varsity.’ And the girls were like, yeah, shoot, shame on us,” Brady said. “We don’t use it as a guilt trip, but it puts things into perspective. We tell them to work as hard as they can because Megan is working as hard as she can. She may not be able to do the things other players can, but she plays harder than anyone, and that puts things into perspective.” Conover poses for a photo with a few of her favorite varsity players, Amanda Pappas, left, Haley Drinks, center, and Alexis Knox. Conover gets to dress out for varsity games and is the biggest supporter of the varsity, players said. “It kind of makes me thankful because some people aren’t as lucky to be able to play basketball and do things that you don’t want to take for granted,” said senior guard Haley Drinks. “It wouldn’t be the same without her. We come into practice and say ‘where’s Meg at?’ She’s really the heart of our team. She keeps us in check, she keeps us laughing. And it really is a reminder not to take the game for granted.” Mahana agrees with Drinks. “She’s a great inspiration. She really keeps us going. She’s always on the sidelines when we are practicing and whenever I want to stop, I look up and think ‘I’ve gotta do it for little Meg.’ It motivates us. We want to win for her,” Mahana said. “You want to push yourself because you know she would love to be out there doing what we are doing. She’s a great kid. If you do something wrong you know she’s always going to be there to pick you up.” Making her own rules Part of what makes Megan Conover such a special young lady is her attitude. She’s determined to play basketball, and play it her way, and she’s going to have a great time doing it. Normally, players on opposing teams are instructed by their coaches not to guard Megan too closely, just allow her to dribble in and take a shot. But in a recent game, she was fouled. She can’t reach the basket with a shot from the normal free-throw line, which is 15 feet from the hoop. So, what did she do? Made her own foul line, naturally. “The girl from the other team I guess didn’t get the memo that when Meg gets the ball the seas are supposed to part and Meg is supposed to have her way,” Jim said with a laugh. “Meg threw up the shot and the ref called the foul. Meg knows that she can’t reach from the foul line, so she just decided she was going to make her own foul line. So she moved up to where she could make it from, and made the free throws. The points lit up on the scoreboard, and Meg was happy.” Sara, home from college break, was at that game. She said she wasn’t surprised at Meg’s willingness to play by her own rules. “She made her own foul line. She stepped up a few steps, made her own foul line and made her shots,” Sara said. “She was telling me about it later and she said, ‘I had to move up because I can’t reach from the foul line yet.’ So I said, ‘well, you keep practicing on that.’ She said, ‘I just have to get stronger and then I’ll be able to do it.’ That is the attitude every kid needs to have.” For her part, there was never any doubt in Megan’s mind that she would sink those two free throws. Like her dad said, her confidence is through the roof right now. “What goes through my mind is that I will make the foul shot,” she said. There was another game, against Wildwood Catholic, in which Megan scored on three straight possessions, even closing out the game with a buzzer-beater. “We were actually watching the JV game before our game and we got to see that happen. That was pretty awesome,” Drinks said. “It felt funny, a little bit. I was expecting to score, but not that much,” Megan said of her 6-point outburst. However, the following game, the EHT junior varsity team was locked in a tight contest with Atlantic City and she didn’t see any minutes. Which, quite frankly, she found difficult to understand considering her scoring prowess. “She came home and said, ‘man, I thought they might play me because I’m on fire. I’m scoring like crazy.’ I had to say, ‘well, Meg, ya know, sometimes coaches deal with matchups. Maybe that team was a little bigger.’ She said, ‘yeah, I know. But when I get in, I’m going to score,'” Jim said. Family ties What really makes Megan so special, coach Brady said, is the family she comes from. Jim and Renee don’t expect anyone to make concessions for their daughter. Well, aside from an opposing player giving her a little bit of room to take a shot. They also are heavily involved not only with the girls basketball program, but also in the community. They don’t keep Megan under wraps. They allow her to get out there in social situations and let her bubbly personality take off. “Oh, my gosh, her family is the best. This is my first year coaching (varsity), so her mom is all geared up to be the president of my booster club, her dad did all the preseason stuff for me. They are all about EHT, and they are just so proud. I don’t know where she would be without the Conover family because they get it. They get where we want the program to be and they are willing to do anything and everything,” Brady said. “If I need something done for a fundraiser, they end up leading it. If I need girls picked up because of transportation issues, they have both their cars ready. Little things like that, it’s just unbelievable. If a kid’s parent can’t make it to a game, they are cheering on that kid. They give that much support. “When Megan’s sister was home on break from college she came to every practice and every game because Megan was so proud to show (Sara) that she was a part of the team. She looks up so much to her sister because her sister was a really good soccer player.” “She’s a great kid. I always joke with my parents that they have two completely different kids. I was very competitive from the time I was put into sports at age 4, and then you have Meg who just wants to have a good time and wants everybody to be happy,” Sara said. “It’s just so cute to watch. She’s honestly my best friend.” A superstar Megan has become so popular among her teammates that when she was recently home sick, many of them texted her after practice to say they missed her that day and hoped she would be back in uniform on the court the following day. “Not only did they accept her, they went out of their way to make her feel really important. During a freshman game last year they knew she was going to get into the game and the varsity girls stayed and watched, they brought in the cheerleaders to cheer for her. They made her feel so special,” Renee said. “She always gets them water when they come off the court and here they were doing that for her. It’s nice to see that they have noticed what she has done.” How would Megan descri
be her newfound popularity? “I’m a superstar,” she said matter-of-factly. “She’s a star everywhere. I can take her to any store around here and there’s at least one person who knows her,” her mom said. Jim Conover said the folks at the ShopRite in Somers Point are completely enthralled with Megan. “High school has been wonderful. She makes herself known, and everybody has kind of fallen in love with her. She’s very comfortable just walking into the teacher’s lounge,” Jim said. “She absolutely loves the grocery store. The people at ShopRite give her birthday presents, Christmas presents. They all know her. That’s just the way she is. She’s always just felt, well, why wouldn’t you want to talk to me?” Cure for a bad day Perhaps Megan’s most endearing quality is her compassion for others. And there’s nothing fake about it. She doesn’t ask how people are doing all the time so she can be popular, she truly cares about the well-being of the people around her. “She’s one of those people who can always make you laugh, no matter what. She can tell when you are having a bad day. If I came home mad from school or soccer practice she would just come up and sit next to me on the couch and tell me she loves me. And everything would feel perfectly fine then, because Meg was there and she makes everything better,” Sara said. “She’s never had a bad day in her life, which is kind of the opposite of me, I’m kind of a drama queen. She’s just having the time of her life at all times, and that’s great to see. I wish I was like that.” “She is the most talkative little munchkin you will ever meet. She’s got such a good sense of humor. Anyone would want to take her home, she’s just the best. She’s very outgoing and so sweet. She likes to pull pranks. It’s the same prank over and over, but she likes to pull it. It’s just a little white lie where she’ll say she got called down to the principal’s office that day. Just little things like that to hear herself talk,” coach Brady said. “She’s not just a cheerleader, she’s a teammate. She’s always shooting and dribbling. The managers love her. I don’t know one person who doesn’t fall in love with this little girl. It’s a great story.” Megan said she loves going to Egg Harbor Township, and part of that is because of the way she is treated there. Little does she know it’s because of the way she treats people that her kindness bounces right back to her. “The most important thing about being on the basketball team is that all the coaches are super nice to me and everything,” Megan said. “I think (coach Brady) is awesome. Everybody in the building is super nice to me.” Recently, Jim Conover was going through a difficult day, dealing with the anniversary of his father’s death back in 1989. It didn’t take long for Megan to realize something was bothering her father, and it took even less time to bring a smile back to his face. “She’s very loving. If she ever thinks she made you upset she’ll spend the next hour apologizing or making sure you are OK. She just has a big heart,” Jim said. “January 19 was the anniversary of my dad passing away, and he was my best friend. That’s always a tough day for me. Meg doesn’t know him other than pictures and stories she has heard. She didn’t realize it was the day and I just explained to her it was a tough day. The whole rest of the day she just kept saying ‘can I have a hug?’ She just cares about people. If she is your friend, she’s your friend through and through. She just loves to make people happy. She’s the perfect cure for a bad day.” Sara said that’s what she wants people to know most about her little sister. That she may stand just 4-foot-6, but she has the heart of someone twice her size. “Her positive attitude is really what makes her who she is, and I think she brings that out in everyone else. It’s hard to be mad or upset around her because she is so uplifting,” Sara said. “If there’s one thing I want everyone to know about her, it doesn’t matter what difficulties she might have, she’s a fun person to be around, and she’s going to show you that.” Sounds like the word “superstar” has been redefined. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]