GirlDads Care & Fever Host Court Experience for Dads and Daughters

INDIANAPOLIS — Young athletes and their fathers took the main floor at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon for an active basketball clinic hosted by GirlDads Care in partnership with the Indiana Fever. The event offered families two hours of drills, skill work, and direct court time before attending the Fever’s matchup against the Connecticut Sun.

GirlDads Care was founded by Will Mosley nearly four years ago after he noticed a distinct lack of year-round interactive outlets for fathers and their daughters.

“When my daughter was born, I started to do research, and all I found was Father’s Day weekend, daddy-daughter dances, and take-your-daughter-to-work day,” Mosley said. “We wanted an opportunity where the dads can say, ‘We can’t do the pushups for you, but we can do them alongside of you.’ Just them being there gives so much encouragement.”

For local families, the opportunity to run drills on a WNBA floor provided a rare chance to break away from routine work and school schedules.

“I heard about this on the morning news,” said Justin Pompey, a Fever season ticket holder who took his eight- and nine-year-old daughters out of school early for the event. “It makes it so easy to go and sign up and have something for us to do, just the three of us.”

The clinic was coordinated through the Indiana Fever’s “Court of Dreams” program. Group Event Specialist Lauryn Kalkowski connected with Mosley to design an experience tailored specifically to the nonprofit’s mission.

“Will did a really great job in finding a gap within the dad-and-daughter space, and to get to do it where women’s sports is skyrocketing right now is so awesome,” Kalkowski said.

Moms in attendance praised the impact of active mentorship and bonding.

“With everybody being busy, always working, it is really nice to be able to take some time off and be here with her, doing things that she loves,” said Maggie Chino, whose 11-year-old daughter participated on the court with her father.

Supported by partners including NBA 2K, New Era, Catch the Stars Foundation, Jr. WNBA, and Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis, the organization plans to continue expanding dad-daughter sports activations nationwide.