This story appears in SLAM 245. Get your copy here.
On the age of 10, Kateryna Koval needed to make a doubtlessly life-changing selection between her first two loves: ballet and basketball. Quick ahead to the current, and the 6-4 middle displays again figuring out that she made the plain proper one. Surprisingly, Koval and her household had doubts about her pursuing hoops. To be truthful, 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 gifted sufficient to pursue a profession in hoops when she was simply 12, again when she was enjoying towards 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 affix this system. “It was arduous figuring out I’m leaving my household, my associates, the whole lot I like and [am] used to,” she says.
Though it was doubtlessly a life-changing determination, she was additionally excited to take the leap. “The thought of exploring new issues, getting a greater schooling, enjoying basketball towards the perfect gamers within the nation is so thrilling for me,” she says. “That half lined all of the stress.”
You’ll discover Koval on a extremely ranked squad for any event she’s in, together with her nationwide staff (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 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 go 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 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 persona. “You’re most likely not going to see me smile or snigger throughout the sport,” she says. “We could be associates outdoors the courtroom. I can hug you after the sport, but when we play towards one another, you understand I like profitable and I hate shedding.”
Koval has change into “the lady” that opposing coaches should scheme towards. “I am going into each single sport figuring out 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 broad open photographs. “I’m going to go that ball,” she says, “and I’m going to proceed to try this as a result of it’s the fitting play.”
Koval already has her profession targets mapped out. This yr? Win “a nationwide title with my staff,” she says. Then she smiles and provides, “and make my faculty determination.” Koval’s rising variety of provide letters contains prime applications 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 staff,” she says. Koval additionally has her eyes set on the large League. “The lengthy, long run goes professional, WNBA.”
Portraits by Marcus Stevens.
