Haringey, Harvard & Hollywood: The fabulous Temi Fagbenle and family
Temi Fagbenle's basketball journey began on a court marked with tramlines, not free-throw lines.
A little over a decade ago, she was playing tennis with her younger sister in north London, without a single hoop dream in her head.
Last month, she played a low-key pick-up game with three of her brothers on a neighbourhood court in the capital.
The locations are only few miles apart. The cast of characters drawn from the same family. The switch apparently simple. But the route between the two times and places is a fantastical trip via Harvard and Hollywood, Lagos and Los Angeles, Stratford and Salamanca.
And the most exciting chapter may be about to be written.
"We had a plan to be the next Serena and Venus. It didn't turn out that way."
Temi and her younger sister Torera had just finished a practice session, hitting with a hired coach, when her father Tunde approached.
Six foot three inches tall, 14 years old, with a bullwhip forehand, a concussive serve and an endless appetite to learn and improve, Temi was undeniably a prospect.
But, just when many tennis parents are pushing their offspring on, Tunde switched tracks.
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