This story seems in SLAM 245. Get your copy right here.

On the age of 10, Kateryna Koval needed to make a probably life-changing alternative between her first two loves: ballet and basketball. Quick ahead to the current, and the 6-4 heart displays again understanding that she made the plain proper one. Surprisingly, Koval and her household had doubts about her pursuing hoops. To be honest, basketball didn’t run within the household and nobody envisioned that she would develop right into a five-star prospect.

“I used to be considering of selecting ballet as a result of I didn’t like basketball at first. However then…I fell in love with the sport,” she says. 

Born in Ukraine, Koval knew she was gifted sufficient to pursue a profession in hoops when she was simply 12, again when she was taking part in in opposition to 15-year-olds. Two years in the past, Lengthy Island Lutheran head coach Christina Raiti noticed Koval’s highlights and satisfied her to maneuver 4,664 miles from her childhood residence to hitch this system. “It was onerous understanding I’m leaving my household, my associates, every part I like and [am] used to,” she says. 

Though it was probably a life-changing choice, she was additionally excited to take the leap. “The concept of exploring new issues, getting a greater schooling, taking part in basketball in opposition to one of the best gamers within the nation is so thrilling for me,” she says. “That half coated all of the stress.” 

You’ll discover Koval on a extremely ranked squad for any event she’s in, together with her nationwide workforce (which she began taking part in on when she was 12). She was an authorized baller on the FIBA U16 Ladies’s European Challengers, averaging 26 factors and 14.2 rebounds per sport. Koval fashions her sport after NBA and WNBA champions Nikola Jokic and A’ja Wilson. “I like Nikola Jokic and the best way he is ready to move the ball and shoot.” she says. “I [also] love A’ja Wilson, her sport and physicality.” 

Koval’s versatility permits her to stretch the ground and knock down threes with out hesitation. “It’s type of disrespectful to me—leaving me open, considering I can’t shoot,” she says. All enterprise on the court docket, her aggressive nature is what makes her persona. “You’re most likely not going to see me smile or snort in the course of the sport,” she says. “We may be associates outdoors the court docket. I can hug you after the sport, but when we play in opposition to one another, you already know I like profitable and I hate dropping.”

Koval has grow to be “the woman” that opposing coaches need to scheme in opposition to. “I am going into each single sport understanding I’m going to be double-teamed, even triple-teamed,” she says. Dare to place three defenders on her and she or he’ll dish the ball to her teammates for extensive open pictures. “I’m going to move that ball,” she says, “and I’m going to proceed to try this as a result of it’s the proper play.” 

Koval already has her profession targets mapped out. This 12 months? Win “a nationwide title with my workforce,” she says. Then she smiles and provides, “and make my faculty choice.” Koval’s rising variety of provide letters consists of prime packages like LSU, Notre Dame, Duke and Stanford, and she or he nonetheless has extra official recruiting visits lined up. Whichever program she decides to decide to, her purpose stays the identical.

“The purpose is profitable the nationwide championship with my faculty workforce,” she says. Koval additionally has her eyes set on the massive League. “The lengthy, long run goes professional, WNBA.”

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.