IT has taken the last five and a half years for a Port Macquarie teenager to realise her dream lies over in her homeland.
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16-year-old Nicole Strumolo moved to Australia as a 10-year-old from America, but the lure of the big apple has proven too much as she pursues a basketball career.
"My coach told me that if I wanted to play college basketball, I'd have to move over so I moved over about seven months ago," Strumolo said.
"My coach in the US told me that if I wanted to play College basketball, I'd have to be in the US and play a US High School basketball season", Strumolo said.
Originally, the plan was to tick that box in America before returning home to Australia.
Due to her success in the US (voted one of the top 75 high school Sophomores in the state of New Jersey), she set a three-point shooting record for her high school.
She also played on one of the best AAU tournament teams in the US where they travelled throughout the United States to compete.
Strumolo then accepted a scholarship to a private high school to finish off her schooling, and play on their basketball team.
"I've had a dream for a long time to play college basketball and I think the way to go is moving back over there," she said.
"When I go back over there I'll play for the high school team and hopefully I will get a scholarship to college."
Strumolo hopes to ply her trade with St John's University in New York in the hope of playing for a professional club down the track.
"All colleges have links (to professional clubs), but it depends how you go in college."
While Strumolo has spent six years in the Hastings, playing for Port Macquarie Dolphins and the Bellingen Braves, the teenager has spent the past month training in Port Macquarie.
It has been in preparation for the upcoming US high school basketball season.
"I've been doing a lot of training so haven't done a lot of playing since arriving home a month ago," she said.
"There are a lot more opportunities in basketball over there with high level tournaments and intense training and competition."
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