Our Story: Empowering Girls Through Basketball
HoopGirls DC is a division of Sports on the Hill. It is an all-girls basketball program that strives to build strong bodies, strong minds and future leaders through the game of basketball. Why basketball? Because it’s a multi-faceted game that is one of the only sports that you can play by yourself, one-on-one, two-on-two, and so forth up to the standard five player teams. It teaches confidence, perseverance, toughness, team spirit, sportsmanship and leadership.
Catherine Townsend started the program in 2005 after a few girls who played in her oldest son’s league asked for her help creating an all-girls team. Cathy said yes if the girls could recruit 8 players to field a team. At the first practice, 18 girls showed up and two teams were created. The teams joined the Palisades Basketball League a year later and have annually participated with five to seven recreational teams each year. (Click here for Hoop Girls recreational teams.)
This year HoopGirls is adding elite, travel/AAU level teams to its club with a year round program for 7th grade girls (class of 2030). The HoopGirls DC AAU Program will focus on developing young female athletes through top-tier training based in Washington DC and competitive basketball experiences across the DMV.
