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

On the age of 10, Kateryna Koval needed to make a doubtlessly 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 pondering 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 proficient sufficient to pursue a profession in hoops when she was simply 12, again when she was enjoying 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 house to hitch this system. “It was onerous understanding I’m leaving my household, my buddies, all the things I like and [am] used to,” she says. 

Though it was doubtlessly a life-changing choice, she was additionally excited to take the leap. “The thought of exploring new issues, getting a greater schooling, enjoying 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 enjoying on when she was 12). She was a licensed baller on the FIBA U16 Ladies’s European Challengers, averaging 26 factors and 14.2 rebounds per recreation. Koval fashions her recreation after NBA and WNBA champions Nikola Jokic and A’ja Wilson. “I like Nikola Jokic and the best way he is ready to go the ball and shoot.” she says. “I [also] love A’ja Wilson, her recreation and physicality.” 

Koval’s versatility permits her to stretch the ground and knock down threes with out hesitation. “It’s sort of disrespectful to me—leaving me open, pondering I can’t shoot,” she says. All enterprise on the courtroom, her aggressive nature is what makes her character. “You’re most likely not going to see me smile or giggle in the course of the recreation,” she says. “We might be buddies exterior the courtroom. I can hug you after the sport, but when we play in opposition to one another, I like successful and I hate shedding.”

Koval has turn into “the lady” that opposing coaches must scheme in opposition to. “I’m going into each single recreation 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 vast open pictures. “I’m going to go that ball,” she says, “and I’m going to proceed to do this as a result of it’s the precise play.” 

Koval already has her profession targets mapped out. This yr? Win “a nationwide title with my workforce,” she says. Then she smiles and provides, “and make my school choice.” Koval’s rising variety of provide letters contains 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 aim stays the identical.

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

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.