Members of one of the In Step Select AAU basketball teams pray before a game. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — The West Virginia high school girls basketball state championships had a strong Mid-Ohio Valley flavor.

Parkersburg bested Parkersburg South in a Wood County showdown for the Class AAAA title, St. Marys nabbed the single-A crown and Williamstown fell in the double-A final.

It was a big day for the local basketball scene, and a big day for the In Step Athletic Center, a high-performance sport and fitness training facility in Belpre.

Run by basketball guru Jordan Thornhill, the In Step program was well represented at the state tournament, with more than 20 of its athletes suiting up for local teams in Charleston.

“That was super cool to see,” Thornhill said. “We didn’t quite expect it. We knew we were working really hard and knew something good was going to happen. We try to train kids to become the types of players that can really impact their school teams, but also to become great leaders. Seeing four local schools make it to the state finals, we were filled with pride and humility.”

Jordan Thornhill, center, is the founder of the In Step Athletic Center, a high-performance sport and fitness training facility in Belpre. Thornhill and his fellow coaches have helped train a number of the Mid-Ohio Valley’s most talented basketball players. (Photo Provided)

Thornhill knew during his high school playing days at Belpre High School that he wanted to get into coaching. He started out at the junior high level before eventually working his way up to the boys varsity job at BHS.

“The more I learned about coaching, the more I realized how little I knew,” said Thornhill, who went back to school and got his masters in coaches education.

“I did like a five-year sabbatical. I went on kind of this tour where I learned as much as I could about running a high-level college program. I went to UConn, I went to Ohio State — I acquired this skillset of everything a college coach would be able to do.”

Around this time, Thornhill began developing a relationship with God.

“I wrestled between doing full-time basketball and full-time ministry,” he said. “I finally gave it to God, and the door started opening for me to open my own business.”

The Bible verse Galatians 5:25 always stood out to Thornhill.

“‘Since we live in the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit,'” Thornhill recited. “That’s where the name ‘In Step’ comes from.”

In 2018, Thornhill opened up a little garage gym in Belpre. He often did training sessions in parks and driveways. In 2020, he started his travel program for fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls. The players from those teams are now juniors and seniors in high school.

“We were training them like college athletes,” Thornhill said. “We were doing that for two years, just kind of renting out gyms. In 2021, we got a partnership with the YMCA. That gave us more gym time and helped expand our program. We added more younger teams, which is where some of those freshman girls at Parkersburg South jumped in. We just had this great training environment.”

Between the PHS, South, St. Marys and Williamstown girls basketball teams, there were 25 players on those rosters who had either played for the In Step Select AAU program for a full year or trained for multiple summers at the athletic center.

“We re-tool every year,” Thornhill said. “We try to stay on the cutting edge of the best drills and how to teach things. I’m a trainer. I’m also a coach. We train for nine months out of the year, and then for three months we get all these AAU teams. We like to teach through playing.”

For Thornhill, the results off the court are just as important as the results on it.

“We want them to be winners at life,” he said. “I feel like our scoreboard is, when they’re 25, 35 years old, who they are as adults. That will be our real scoreboard. Hopefully our program helps with their long-term success. We want to keep growing and expanding. I feel like we’re still just getting started.”

Brandon Simoniette is one of the coaches at In Step, but before In Step existed, Simoniette trained under Thornhill.

“I told some of our kids that in a way, I was Jordan’s experiment,” Simoniette laughed. “That was a period for me where I was learning a lot about mindset, lifestyle, leadership. That’s the importance of sport — it teaches kids life skills, things they’ll take with them when they’re done playing.”

Simoniette was a standout hooper at Warren High School. He played through two torn labrums his senior year and required two hip surgeries after the season was over. Simoniette graduated from Warren in 2020 and “was ready to be done playing,” he said.

“I spent a year away from everything. To be really honest, that was a hard point in my life. I made the decision to start coaching at In Step because I wanted to work on my leadership skills, improve my public speaking and be more confident. I quickly learned how incredible of a feeling it was to have an impact on kids. I’m immensely blessed to be in this position.”

Simoniette is in his final semester at Ohio University and is working toward becoming a mental health counselor, which he hopes to one day implement at In Step.

“I was a player who lacked a lot of confidence,” Simoniette said. “I was a high-anxiety player. Just imagine the transformation if I would’ve had somebody to talk to about these things. That’s what I’d like to bring to In Step. Sports psychology sessions with our athletes, talking about the mental side of the game and how they’re affected. Especially nowadays with mental health awareness on the rise, I think this is the time to do it.”

Simoniette will be coaching In Step’s fourth-grade girls AAU team this summer, “but I’m training pretty much year-round when we’re not in travel season.”

Among the names to train at In Step include Parkersburg’s Lauren Flanagan, Lucie Cline and Frances Guice, South’s Emilee Owens, Lindsey Logston and Quinn Bolyard, Parkersburg Catholic’s Macy Singer, Ellie Kinnison and Sophie Lott, St. Marys’ Brynnley Bulluck, Belpre’s Gracie Bills, Warren’s Aubrey Pepper and Fort Frye’s Rae Morgenstern — just to name a handful.

“We essentially come in and try to meet every player where they are,” Thornhill explained. “Frances Guice, she came to us when she was in sixth grade. She was a year or two late to the party. She barely made our AAU squad. Trained with us all year, came back the next year and was the sixth man. Came back the next year and was a starter. She just stayed the course, and now she’s a first team all-stater.”

In Step has 24 total AAU teams — 12 boys teams and 12 girls teams — with age groups ranging from third grade to high school. There are also summer-long training programs being offered.

“In Step means the world to me,” Simoniette said. “I know the impact the sport has had on me, and to pour that back into the younger generation is truly special.”

For more information, visit the In Step Athletic Center page on Facebook, or contact coach Zach Alkire at 304-917-8242.