Like many clubs, the Indiana Flight started small.
Founder Gregg Mason began with one team seven years ago. This year the program has 33. That’s a growth rate that would be envied on Wall Street.
Now, however, the focus has shifted somewhat.
“We did take quantity instead of quality, but now we’re starting to get into quality over quantity,” Mason said.
The Flight has two branches, divided geographically. Mason runs the Indianapolis-based group of teams, which draws kids from a large portion of the state. A second branch, called the Southern Indiana Flight, is based in the Jeffersonville/New Albany area and is run by Mark Landis.
Uncovering the reason for the Flight’s growth isn’t difficult, even if Mason can’t quite pinpoint it.
“I don’t know why it got so big,” he said. “I know we’re cheap. I don’t do it for a living. I do it because I enjoy basketball.”
But there’s more to it than that. Mason makes it clear that the club exists to give its participants an outlet to be exposed.
“Our thing is — speaking about the high school kids — is to showcase. It’s all about college exposure; getting the kids seen by the coaches,” Mason said. “Now, for the littler kids, we want them to practice at least 2-3 times a week on the fundamentals, learning the game. Not as much (about) winning championships, that’s for sure.
“We’re about the kids. It’s not about ourselves, it’s not about the trophies or anything like that. Our goal is to try to get every kid some sort of basketball scholarship.”
Mason said the club also benefited from its affiliation with Blue Star Basketball. The Flight became a Blue Star travel team four years ago.
“At first we had to get the word out (about the program), and it seemed like once we got started with Blue Star and hooked up with Chris (Mennig, Blue Star national evaluator), it kind of ran itself after that,” Mason said. “It was a good addition to be with Chris.”
Now the Flight have both quantity and quality. Here’s a look at some of the Flight’s top players, with comments from Mason:
Kayana Traylor (2018, 5-9, PG; committed to Purdue in September): “She played in our national division last year as an eighth grader. I was a little worried at times but the kid held her own, that’s for sure. She’s an excellent basketball player, a good teammate for her team, and a heck of a kid. And that left hand is really tough. Everybody says make her go right, so she’ll go right and then she’ll come right back to that left hand. Her mom played at LSU, her dad played at Iowa, and her aunt (is a career scoring leader) Florida State.”
Macy Willoughby (2017, 5-8, PG): “She plays at a small school up by Lafayette (Carroll High). Nobody even knows the kid. It’s a neat story for her. From a small school, all of a sudden she gets exposure and, wow, here she is. She plays point guard in high school, with us she’s more of a shooting guard. She’s been playing lights out. She had a very good July.”
Allie McCool (2016, 6-2, C; committed to George Mason): “She’s been with me since eighth grade, playing at the high level. I just call her a warrior. She has battled some big, prime-time kids.”
Sadie Hill (2018, 6-0, F): “She has the physical body. She’s only been playing basketball for three years. She’s come a long way, but she’s still raw.”
Katie Giller (2018, 6-0, F): “She’s an athletic kid. Growing like a bean, and she’s a good kid. Very raw.”
Cassidy Hardin (2018, 5-10, PG): “She has offers from Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Missouri, Purdue, Florida Gulf Coast, Iowa State, Michigan State, Iowa. She’s a pure shooter; takes one-tenth of a second to make it. Good kid, very high IQ of the game. She’s the best shooter I’ve ever seen.”
Riley Blackwell (2017, 6-0, Wing): “Long kid. She has an offer from Evansville. She’s been in the program for four years. Another smart kid.”
Emily Kiser (2018, 6-2, C): “Valparaiso and University of Indianapolis offered her. She’s just now coming into her prime.”
Amy Dilk (2018, 5-8, PG): “Very heady, smart kid, another with a high basketball IQ. She’ll go D-1. She has an offer from IUPUI. She’s growing, too.”
Stephanie Burns (2019, 6-0, F): “She can play with her back to the basket or face up from the perimeter. She plays physical and shows lots of athletic ability. Aggressive rebounder and can run the floor.”
Taylor Boruff (2019, 5-10, G): “Lefty who has the ability to score off the dribble or from the 3. Handles the ball and sees the floor well enough to create easy baskets for her team. She has a nice combination of size, skill, and strength at her position.” (Her mother, Tiffany Longworth, played at Penn State.)
Madison Layden (2020, 5-11, PG): “Point guard with a shooting guard’s range. A ‘pass first’ player who has tremendous court vision and great hands on defense. Very solid fundamentals.” (Her mother, Kathie, and father, Jeff, both played at Evansville.)
Gracie Johnson (2019, 5-3, PG): “Quick, in-your-face defender, can knock down the three-point shot and can take the ball to the basketball with her first quick step.”
Hattie Westerfeld (2019, 6-0, C): “Very tenacious on the boards. Gets to the rim when the ball finds her.”
