School: Council Rock North
Volleyball, Basketball
Favorite athlete: Kerri Walsh
Favorite team: “I love the New York Giants!”
Favorite memories competing in sports: “Making it to the state finals in basketball my freshman year, and having a fire alarm go off right during our pre-game at Wildwood!”
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that happened while competing in sports: “During warm-ups for the first home game of my freshman season, we were doing shooting lines, and my silky warm-up pants got caught under my shoe. I wiped out and fell flat on my butt in front of everyone. I was so embarrassed, and I don’t think my face has ever been that red. Quickly, I got up and made the shot, but the seniors NEVER let me live that down!”
Music on iPod: “Anything and everything”
Future plans: “I want to play college basketball, major in biology and become a high school biology teacher.”
Words to live by: “Play hard. Have fun!” (My dad always tells me that before every single game.)
One goal before turning 30: “Get a job!”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I have a crazy amount of phobias: heights, spiders, needles, germs, big dogs, cats, small spaces, the dark, close contact with other people, feral animals, and many, MANY more!”
Sarah Kiely began playing basketball in third grade for an all-too-familiar reason.
“My dad got me into it because I was the tallest kid on the court,” the Council Rock junior said. “I actually didn’t like it at all. I was going to quit. I wasn’t an aggressive person.”
The concept of Kiely being unaggressive will undoubtedly come as a shock to those who play against the gifted junior. And Rock North’s opponents wouldn’t mind a bit if Kiely had called it a career as a youngster.
As it is, opponents are forced to deal with a relentless competitor who quite simply cannot tolerate losing.
“I’m competitive at everything,” Kiely said.
She isn’t kidding.
“We could be playing a game of Sorry, and if I’m not winning, I’ll just throw the board,” Kiely said with a laugh. “I get so frustrated if I’m not winning, but I keep playing.
“I keep trying to win. I always keep going until I get it right.”
Make no mistake about it. Kiely is not a poor sport. She is simply that driven to win, and she will do what it takes to win. Not surprisingly, she has won a whole lot since she set foot on the court as a freshman and was the first player off the bench for an Indian squad that advanced to the state title game.
“It was pretty overwhelming, being the only freshman and being surrounded by the five seniors,” Kiely admitted. “It was crazy. I never thought I’d be able to play with them. I followed them throughout their careers. They were my heroes, and playing with them was ridiculous.
“But the seniors definitely took me under their wings. I was scared, I was anxious and nervous, and they helped calm my nerves.”
Coach Lou Palkovics, who had been watching Kiely progress since she was in seventh grade, knew immediately he had inherited a good one.
“She had size, but we saw something in her,” the Indians’ coach said. “She just needed some work under the basket.
“This year she’s really blossoming.”
In the Indians’ title clinching win over Abington, Kiely – despite sitting out a good portion of the fourth quarter – contributed 24 points and 17 rebounds in a monster performance.
“She’s become more efficient around the basket,” Palkovics said. “In the past at time, she would force the ball and not really make a move. She’s a lot more refined and efficient with that.
“In the win over Abington, she must have hit six or seven 15-16 footers. If she faces the basket, she’s a much more effective player. That’s why I think a lot of schools got really interested in her.”
The list of schools interested in Kiely includes the likes of Princeton, Colgate, James Madison, Bucknell, Rider, suggesting that the junior standout is more than just an outstanding athlete.
She is.
Kiely boasts a GPA of 4.35. She is taking honors classes, and next year will have a schedule that includes AP biology, psychology and statistics.
“Not only is she a quality person, but she comes from a quality family,” Palkovics said. “She comes from a very close-knit family.
“She’s one of those kids who doesn’t say a whole lot. She’s a lunch-pail type person. She comes to practice and gives 120 percent the whole time. She’s the first one to stay after to work with the coaches, and she’s a very good student at school.”
Kiely, who is sandwiched between two brothers, grew up playing sports. Her list of sports included a little bit of everything – softball, flag football and figure skating.
“They all kind of stopped within a year or two,” she said. “The only one that stuck was softball, but I never really had a passion for it.
“My older brother played baseball, and everything he did – I tried to do. He played t-ball, and I would play t-ball. I wanted to play baseball, but I had to play softball.”
Kiely has been playing basketball on the AAU circuit since she was in fourth grade, most recently competing for Upper Makefield. This year, she will be playing with Fencor.
“She’s extremely athletic and has tremendous jumping ability,” Palkovics said. “She’s an extremely unselfish player who is a tireless worker.
“She’s a great kid to coach because she listens, and she always wants to get better.”
The Rock North junior added volleyball to her list of sports when she was in eighth grade.
“The volleyball coach was like, ‘You’re tall. Can we have you on the team?’” Kiely recalled.
It was a familiar refrain, but Kiely started going to open gyms. She was a natural.
“Volleyball is a lot of fun,” she said. “It keeps me in shape, and I’ve made a lot of friends through it.
“The atmosphere and energy everybody on the team has – it’s so much fun.”
Kiely is a dangerous weapon at the net for the Indians, and the usually laidback junior displays plenty of emotion when she slams down a kill that hits the floor.
“When I get a kill, I just want to do it again,” she said. “On the court, I’m screaming and get all excited. Off the court, it’s the quiet side.”
When she entered high school, Kiely’s volleyball coach tried to talk her into playing year-round with a club team. She briefly considered it because she didn’t think she was good enough to get playing time in basketball.
She quickly proved herself wrong.
“I never would have seen myself in this position,” she said. “I’m doing pretty well now.”
That’s an understatement for a player who is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds a game and only promises to get better.
