43 years ago, Jane Pittman, a promising basketball star at her small town high school, ran off the court during a holiday tournament game. She just broke down. Basketball meant everything to Jane at 16. She was destined for greatness and determined to lead her team to the conference championship. What Jane didn’t know at the time was that this episode was the first of many panic attacks that would change the trajectory of her life. Basketball was no longer possible, so she thought.
When Jane stumbles across the NOVA United Senior Women’s Basketball Association at age 57, she is both intrigued and skeptical. Senior women playing basketball? Three on three half-court basketball? How boring! But when Mary Lou, a 74-year-old widow from Ohio, invites her to shoot a few baskets one afternoon at the Nannie Lee Rec Center in Alexandria, old passions are reignited. If a 74-year-old x housewife who never played basketball until her 70’s can do this, Jane surely can too.
Vowing to get into the best shape of her life, Jane is determined to play competitive ball again. What she never expected to find on that journey was a passionate group of senior adults who had decided to “wear out, before we rust out”. Choosing basketball over Canasta and Bingo, these women come together for much more than sports. “Coming Back To The Hoop” is a film about the transformative power of basketball and the healing it brings when you connect with something larger than yourself and then give yourself over to the team.
