H.A. Hang: Mac Casey, Executive Director of Skilladelphia Basketball Academy

The coolest part of our business has always been our clients. We’re amazed by all they do: CEOs and business owners, world travelers, authors, inventors, healers, entrepreneurs, newscasters, artists, pro athletes, musicians, caretakers, and philanthropists. 

We launched this series to share the stories of our clients and form connections within the H.A. community. Enjoy!

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Home Appétit: You started a new nonprofit aimed at uplifting girls basketball and women's sports in general. What inspired you to start Skilladelphia?
Mac Casey: When my daughter was six years old, she wanted to shoot around at a park, but the baskets were too high to make it fun. So we donated an adjustable rim to our local rec center, Old Pine Community Center, in exchange for court time. We asked some neighborhood friends to come along and within three months—through word of mouth alone—we had 40 kids regularly showing up. At that point, I realized at a minimum there is some demand for this kind of thing. 

What’s your vision for the future of Skilladelphia?
We want to provide a positive and encouraging training and development space for as many girls and nonbinary players as we can and we want to do that in a way that is affordable, accessible and community-focused.

We also want to further build out our coaching capabilities while fairly compensating recent or current women athletes for their time and dedication to our kids. 

Where did you grow up? Did you play sports?
I grew up mostly in North Wales and attended North Penn High School, one of the biggest public high schools in the state. I was a role player on a very competitive basketball team and I got to play with some great players. I made my college team at Ursinus, too. I currently live in Bella Vista with my wife, Liz, and our two kids, Annie and Michael.

What is the most rewarding part of running Skilladelphia?
Seeing our kids grow both their skillset and their confidence. One of my favorite memories involves a young player who came to the gym and kept getting hit with errant basketballs. She’d get very upset. She was also clearly a perfectionist but didn’t have much of a skillset yet. Within a few months she was dribbling two basketballs at a time, was bouncing up off the ground if she fell and was demonstrating our drills. And she looked like she was having fun. 

I also love the way our kids respond to our college-aged coaches. We have great involvement from women athletes in programs at UPenn and Temple. They're amazing coaches and role models and it's clear the kids love being around them.

Lastly, I get to be in a gym coaching basketball all the time now. My own sports career wasn’t particularly great after high school—I made the team at Ursinus, but didn’t play all four years. But I never stopped loving basketball. Being able to pass that onto kids is amazing. Being able to communicate with our families and Skilladelphia community is a lot of fun—I’m about as extroverted as they come. And being able to offer a program that approaches youth sports in a very unique way is meaningful.  

What are some of the programs or initiatives you’re most excited about this year?I’m very excited about Kylie Kelce’s upcoming visit on 4/23, where she’ll be talking to our community about the role sports can play in helping girls and non-binary players develop skills and confidence.

I’m also excited about our summer camp offerings. We ran camps last year for the first time and they were so much fun. We’re expanding those efforts this year and I’m excited to see how our programming shapes up. 

We are working to expand our program offerings and clinics to other neighborhoods while continuing to keep our costs affordable or free. We have ideas for how to do this for our basketball and lacrosse offerings, but we need to get to work!

You live in Bella Vista with your family. What are your favorite local businesses and organizations? 

• Ps and Qs - A really fun men’s clothing store on South Street. The family running it has an amazing eye for design and they're huge advocates for girls and women’s sports.
• Gleaners Cafe - Nicest humans in the world and they make a great cup of coffee.
• Old Pine Community Center - Without OPCC there is no Skilladelphia. They gave us a space to play and ultimately test out our model. They are dream partners who impact our community in so many ways.
• UPenn and Temple Women’s Basketball - The players, coaches and staff from these organizations have done so much for our players and our program. We’re beyond grateful.
• Stoop Pigeon PHL - Is there anyone advocating for women’s sports in Philadelphia more than Jen Leary? 

Learn more about Skilladelphia Basketball Academy here.