Mikayla Rowan thought she was done with basketball in 2020.
After playing Division I women’s basketball for four years at the University of Southern Indiana, she moved to Speedway and, after a lifetime of participating in sports, she said she “didn’t want to touch basketball.”
“I was so over it,” Rowan said.
That didn’t last long. She started working out at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport and soon joined a group of guys playing pickup basketball several times a week.
But she felt like the men she played with weren’t competing with her at the same level they did with other men.
“Posting up somebody is pretty physical, and I had a couple times where guys were like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to touch your butt or I don’t want to touch you,’ and I was like, ‘Well, I’m not thinking of it in that way, but I get where you’re coming from, I guess,’” she said.
Her college basketball coach, Rick Stein, had tried to warn her.
“He was like, ‘This is the highest level of basketball that you’ll be able to play again outside of here,’” Rowan said. “He’s like, ‘You won’t find girls to play in a league.’”
Rowan admits she didn’t take that warning seriously enough. Despite finding a way to play, she found herself with limited opportunities for a consistent, inclusive and all-women pickup basketball league. With a bachelor’s degree in sport management, a master’s in business administration and a full-time job as social content manager for Homefield, a college gear brand affiliated with over 200 schools, she knew she could do something about it.
“One thing I know how to do,” Rowan said, “is run an Instagram page.”
Inspired by the renaissance of women’s basketball and growing attention on the WNBA — she shares a birthday with Minnesota Lynx MVP Maya Moore and grew up idolizing athletes like her — Rowan created Indy Women Hoop in early 2024.
In February of that year, she rented a court in Garfield Park and got nine women to show up. Eight of them were already her friends, but one person she didn’t know arrived after coming across the group’s Instagram page. At the next event there were a few more, then even more the next time they played. It’s grown by about five to 10 women per month since they started, and now she manages a contact list of 200 women.
Athletes play during a meetup of Indy Women Hoop on May 19, 2026, at the Lilly Boys and Girls Club in Indianapolis. Credit: Abra Richardson/Mirror Indy
Many of the women who show up to play are former high school or college athletes looking to reengage with sports, but not all. There are mothers who come to play, and Indianapolis newcomers looking to make friends. Most of the women are in their 20s, but there are always a few over 30. According to Rowan, if someone is looking for a job in the world of sports, many of her players work in the industry.
In August 2025, Indy Women Hoop officially became a nonprofit organization, with Rowan as president.
“I don’t need to make money from this,” she said. “Men can show up to a court and there are 20 guys ready to get runs in and nobody has to pay. The cost is whoever brought the basketball.” She also saw moms who brought their kids to watch them play, unable to count on childcare while they participated in a basketball game.
“What kind of barrier is that if I’m like, ‘yeah, it’s $10 every single time?’” Rowan said.
It’s important to Rowan that Indy Women Hoop continue to serve the women who find it hardest to make time for themselves and their joy. They play several times a month, currently at the Lilly Boys & Girls Club, but she is eager to find a bigger, more consistent space where she can include even more players.
Emma Wolfe has only been playing with this group for two months, but says of Rowan, “She’s the best. It’s so welcoming here.”
Rowan knows it can be daunting to get back into playing sports when you’ve had a long break, but she encourages anyone interested to push past their nerves and show up to play anyway. Rowan begins every event by making relevant announcements, assigning groups and encouraging everyone to have fun. Some women play as much as they can, some take frequent breaks on the bleachers and others just come to watch.
“Every single time that they come, they’re like, ‘I should have come sooner. I should have just come out and had a good time.’”
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Ashley Ford is a Free Press Indiana reporter focused on issues affecting women and girls across Indiana. You can reach her at ashley.ford@freepressindiana.org.
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