Finding a competitive sports league can be a challenge for some homeschool students, especially after aging out of local youth programs. Charlie Fogle faced that exact reality after he was no longer eligible to play basketball in the Owensboro Upwards league, leaving him wondering whether his playing days were over.
That changed when friends told him about the Owensboro Knights Christian Homeschool Program, a basketball team launched in the fall of 2018 to give homeschool athletes a place to compete.
“Playing for the Knights has been one of the best decisions I ever made,” Fogle said. “Building the friendships and brotherhood between the players and watching everyone grow closer
together has been really special. It’s been a joy to play with everybody.”
The foundation of a growing program
Owensboro Knights Christian Homeschool Program was founded by Dan Bitters in 2018, when his then-13-year-old son, Blake, needed a place to play basketball.
“He had been playing in previous seasons for a local, Christian school that had allowed homeschool players to play for them,” Bitters said. “I was aware of other Owensboro homeschool athletes who also wanted to play on a competitive basketball team. At that time, only larger cities had multiple, competitive homeschool athletic programs.”
Evansville had a homeschool basketball program, Bitters said, and the family briefly considered commuting. Instead, they decided to build something locally.
The Knights began as a basketball-only program with six players and Bitters as head coach. Over the course of the first season, 12 additional boys joined from the homeschool community. The team played 10 JV/varsity games and 10 middle school games, with a roster made up primarily of middle schoolers.
“I was really nervous about going against these bigger kids, but it was really fun,” Fogle said. “If I did something wrong, it was just a learning experience to let me know what I can do better and what I need to work on as I get older.”
By the 2019-20 season, the program had grown to 20 players, enough to field a middle school team along with JV and varsity squads. After going winless the year before, the high school team won seven games, while the middle school team went from .500 to finishing with a winning record.
In the 2021-22 season, the Knights joined the Kentucky Christian School Athletic Association, which includes private Christian schools and homeschool programs from across the state. That year, the JV team placed third at the State Division I Tournament.
That was just the beginning of the Knights’ rise to the top. The following season, the varsity team won a divisional national championship at the National Christian School Athletic Association tournament. JV captured the State Division I championship, and the middle school team claimed the KCSAA state title.
Today, the Knights basketball program includes 32 athletes across four age groups. Since 2024, the program has been certified to compete against KHSAA schools. Home games are played at venues including Bellevue Baptist Church, First Baptist Church, and Heritage Baptist Church.
While the varsity team took a step back after graduating seven seniors, the program has recorded 91 wins over the past four years. Bitters said he expects strong showings in JV and state tournament play.
Expanding beyond basketball
Plans to expand into baseball began in the spring of 2020, though the inaugural season was delayed a year due to COVID-19. When the team debuted, it included 16 players and fielded both JV and varsity schedules.
Since then, baseball participation has grown to maintain at least 24 athletes, with the addition of a middle school team. Training begins in February, with the season starting in March.
Senior Wyatt Brown, now in his fifth year with the Knights, has watched the program grow firsthand.
“The Knights are growing very, very quickly,” Brown said. “There are a lot of younger kids we call the Junior Knights, and watching them develop is pretty amazing. As a whole, the Knights won’t turn anyone away.”
Girls’ fastpitch softball was added three years ago, starting with 16 athletes and seeing immediate success.
“With Keith Mahaney leading the program, they picked up some big wins and played several KHSAA schools,” Bitters said. “The varsity finished with a winning record, and the JV team also performed well.”
Since then, the softball program has earned wins against Murray High School’s varsity team, Ohio County’s JV team, and Perry Central’s JV team.
In 2023, the Knights launched a volleyball program, which has grown to more than 30 athletes and is coming off a winning season. Bitters said the team has made significant strides over the past two years.
This past fall, the Knights added boys’ soccer, fielding a roster of 20 seventh- through 12th-grade players. Coached by John Mark Tyler and Terry Ekbundit, the team competed against private schools, homeschool programs, and Evansville-area recreational and club teams.
“The Knights have just grown a lot,” said Josiah Houston, a senior and member of the basketball team. “It’s really cool to see that a lot of kids are getting opportunities to play different sports instead of just basketball.”
The Knights have no plans of slowing down. Bitters said there is interest in launching a girls’ basketball team, as well as forming a Western Kentucky homeschool football league that could include programs in Paducah, Hopkinsville, Bowling Green, and Owensboro.
For Fogle, the impact of the Knights goes beyond wins and losses.
“It’s been really amazing meeting everybody,” he said. “I still talk to and hang out with some of the guys who have already graduated from the Knights. Forming friendships and brotherhood that won’t ever be broken, I think that’s more important than anything.”
