Kobe King-Hawea finally found herself in a place she always dreamed of being- the Lost Angeles Lakers practice facility.

King is a New Zealand native and has been involved with basketball since childhood. She did expect to play in the United States before going to college, but in November she was selected as the first female ever to get a scholarship at the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia.

Later, she was invited to an annual Basketball Without Borders Global Camp at All-Star weekend- at the Lakers practice facility. Her child hood revolved around basketball. Her family would watch the recorded Lakers game or would be playing a pick up game in the driveway. “Playing was all I knew from a very young age,” said Hawea. “It was a way to be with my family and also get away from everything.”

Hawea later moved to Australia, and she was able to start in a few amateur leagues. She was starting to draw a lot of attention to herself by how good she was and how smart she was with the ball. Big D1 schools are in the process of trying to recruit her like TCU and Duke University.