<p>An eighth-grader at Saints Francis & Clare Middle School had planned on chasing high school basketball stardom at Roncalli during the next four years.</p>
<p>Recently, though, Brendan Louthain has found that he probably has a much higher ceiling in another sport.</p>
<p>Louthain was recently chosen to be a part of USA Volleyball’s High Performance program, a pipeline that helps funnel elite talent to the national teams. He will be playing for the Continental team in the 14U age group at a tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 19-29.</p>
<p>Making the team came as a surprise to Louthain, who had reluctantly taken part in a tryout at the urging of Austin Hillman, his coach at the middle school and with the Indy Elite club program.</p>
<p>"I wasn’t thinking that I was going to make that high of a team, because the tryout, to me, did not go as well as I thought," Louthain said. "I was just negative when it was over."</p>
<p>No longer. Landing a spot on the Continental team has changed how the 5-foot-9 outside hitter views what he had long considered his "other" sport. Louthain can’t help but ponder a future in volleyball after his rapid ascent on over the last few months.</p>
<p>"Growing up, his first love was always basketball," Hillman said. "This year, he’s had a lot of success with volleyball, and it’s kind of interesting seeing his interest kind of shift from basketball to volleyball, in my opinion."</p>
<p>"I kind of had to step back and look at both sports differently," Louthain added. "After I heard that I was on a really good team for High Performance, I had to think a lot about the next five years, where I could see myself the next five years, because I know eventually I’m going to have to give up one or the other."</p>
<p>For now, he’s still planning to play both basketball and volleyball at Roncalli, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the state in the latter. </p>
<p>Volleyball, though, will dominate Louthain’s summer. Before he goes to Oklahoma in late July, he’ll be competing at the USAV Boys Junior Nationals in Phoenix July 2-6 with Indy Elite, which is ranked among the top 10 club teams in the country.</p>
<p>Sometimes life comes at you fast — but Louthain seems to be okay with how quickly his perspective has shifted.</p>
<p>"(Basketball) was just kind of my main sport," he said, "and then volleyball came along, and I just realized how fun it was. I had never seen myself going this far, being this good or being this successful in volleyball."</p>
<p>And yet he seems to just be getting started.</p>
