If you grow up in Nocona more than likely you will have either a basketball or a volleyball in your hand by the time you are a toddler. Youth leagues are part of many family lives and the gym might just be your living room.
Brandi and Lance Meekins are one of those families who embraced sports for their son Adam, and their three daughters, Emma, Meg and Leah. Today, family get-togethers may be at the Indian gym as Emma is an assistant coach for the girl’s volleyball team, overseeing her dynamic younger sister Megyn, a senior and hardworking freshman sister, Leah. There is a special sister dynamic bubbling up on the court each week.
The sisters
Emma is the oldest of the Meekins children. She is 24 and a 2018 graduate of Nocona High School. Emma earned her bachelor degree in sports leisure studies at Midwestern State University in 2022 with an intention of going into occupational therapy, coaching was really not on her radar.
A friend Lauren Castles encouraged her to come coach at Wichita Christian School during her senior year at MSU. The hook was set as she fell in love with coaching and it looks like that will be her career.
“Three years ago the opening here at Nocona came up. I actually wanted to move away to coach and possibly end my career here, but when the spot opened here it just felt right, especially knowing my sisters were here. Meg was a sophomore and JoJo was coming up,” explained Emma.
Meg at 17 has earned many accolades as both a volleyball and basketball player earning district setter of the year in 2023, Texas Girls’ Coaches Association All-State Team, and was part of the state relay team the past two years. She was a big part of the Lady Indians’ basketball team that made it to the state championship game last year before losing on a buzzer beater in the final.
With the little bit of time she has left in the day Meg also is in the National Honor Society, PALs and student council. Her soft-spoken and slightly shy demeanor are obvious, but there is none of that on the court.
Leah is called JoJo by family and friends based on her middle name. The 14-year-old freshman stepped up to varsity volleyball this year, but she also enjoys playing basketball, which she says she “sorta likes better only because she has played more of it.”
For all three young women there is not much time for other activities during the height of volleyball season. District play began in late September when Meg was recovering from a foot injury, but she has since returned to the court.
Their brother, Adam, age 20 is attending Midwestern University. The 2020 NHS graduate played basketball at Ottawa in Kansas as a freshman, but returned home where he is going to MSU.
Beginnings
All of the Meekins kids played sports. Emma says growing up they always had a ball in their hand and were at the gym.
“That is sort of what you do here in Nocona. At family gatherings it was not uncommon to see us playing ball and in all the youth leagues. It was just natural, we didn’t know any other way,” said Emma.
The coach recalls she had a rough senior year playing volleyball.
“We really didn’t know a winning program. We were a small 3A playing good teams, we tried our best. It was rough, we only made the playoffs my senior year. The girls who played beside you were the focus along with becoming a better person in life,” she explains.
In recent years the Lady Indians have had tremendous success with its sports advancing to regionals and last year to the state championship in basketball just barely missing the title.
Meg doesn’t recall exactly when she fell in love with volleyball and basketball, but she looked to her older sister as an example.
“Just growing up watching her game I saw her expectations. We are following in her footsteps. She was a good example to follow, in some ways,” she stated, which also drew a few giggles from the other two.
JoJo gets a little misty-eyed and says it will be hard when Meg graduates because her big sister won’t be on the court with her; however, the other sisters see JoJo building her own village with her teammates. She adds playing with her best friend, Raylea Bowles is fun.
While the sisters have their own vibe on the court, they also love the culture of team sports. Meg says you see that bond on the court.
“When you’re struggling out there and your best friend looks over at you, it calms you. Skyler Smith was that for me. JoJo is developing her team among solid players, but with her sister on the court she knows she will be taken care of. When she is down I have to be there. I know what it is like your freshman year, it’s hard going out performing in front of the community in Nocona. It is awesome. For a freshman I want to be a role model that helps her,” explains Meg.
For Emma there was a unique transition from player and sister to coach. Emma feels her experience as a player was helpful, adding she had people to look up to and learn from, which helped. For Meg and JoJo it was hard to remember to call Emma Coach Meekins and not Emma. Meg got called out to run when it happened that first year.
Coach Meekins is enjoying her job and says getting to see the girls at their best and their excitement on the court is wonderful.
“I get little kids running up to me calling out ‘Coach Meekins, Coach Meekins.’ You know you are having an impact. I have seen a big change in JoJo from middle school to high school. I told Coach Kara Lucherk she is a different girl now. The best part of coaching is the athletes themselves, but for me to have my two sisters here, it is so special and almost unreal. Not many get to do that,” explains the coach.

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By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
Nocona volunteer firefighters diligently continue their efforts to get a truck fully geared up for their newest fire station at Lake Nocona with hopes it could be ready to roll early in the new year.
At a recent rural fire department monthly meeting members were working on the truck and sorting miles of fire hose that will go on Engine 331. The Eagle Point Fire Station is located on the west side of Lake Nocona and has been a work in progress for a little more than two years by the city and rural Nocona firefighters. The departments each station in downtown Nocona, and the rural department has a building with a brush truck at Spanish Fort.
Billy Henley, rural chief and volunteer firefighter for more than 50 years, said their efforts to expand service began about in 2020 and 2021 after the Nocona Lake Estates Fire Department disbanded.

Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.

The Bowie News salutes our Hometown Heroes. All the first responders who handle radio calls, man the ambulances, solve crime and run into the fire. Many of these folks are volunteers protecting their community. Find photos of every law enforcement agency and fire department in the Hometown Heroes