Basketball Wall Street: “The New Brooklyn, Talent Personified Natalija Marshall

 

The New York City area has begun its resurgence of elite girls basketball recruits. Natalija Marshall solidifies that distinction as a promising young prospect in the high school graduating class of 2020. She is a well traveled young lady but she embraces Brooklyn as her hometown. “It’s hard to say which city I’m originally from. Because of my dad’s work, my family moved a lot. I was born in Washington, D.C. and lived there for three years. Then I moved to Brooklyn and lived there for 2 years. After that, we moved to Chicago for 3 years and then finally moved back to Brooklyn. Then we moved to Forest Hills to be closer to high school. But I lived in Brooklyn for the majority of my life, so I would probably say I’m from Brooklyn. Both of my parents are from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.” At 6-foot-4 Marshall’s hands and footwork are exceptional for a prospect of her stature, enabling her to be a versatile and skilled stretch-forward. “I think my versatility and ability to do a little bit of everything on the court makes me hard to defend”.

Natalija’s athletic gifts and bloodlines are evident, however, her parents were intelligent enough not to force her into playing basketball. ” I tried baseball, soccer, swimming, and even gymnastics, but none of them really interested me. One day I just told my parents that I wanted to play basketball. At the time it was sort of just a hobby. My parents never really pushed me to play basketball, even though I was always tall and athletic. My dad played soccer in college and my mom was a track and field athlete in college, so basketball wasn’t really something I felt destined to do. But now, basketball is a part of our daily lives.” Marshall has just completed her freshman year at Christ The King High School-(Middle Village, NY) as a vital part of the teams run to the NYC Catholic High School Athletic Association Championship game. For over 30 years King has been known as a distinguished basketball powerhouse. “I think she is going to change the image of what a big does. She’s just got an unlimited resource of potential that you don’t get in a lot of kids.” says King head coach Bob Mackey. “Being at a school where there is so much athletic success is super exciting. Knowing that stars such as Sue Bird, Tina Charles, and Chamique Holdsclaw went through the same things as me, gives me a lot of confidence regarding playing at the next level.” Natalija Marshall has performed well enough to have garnered major collegiate interest, look for her to tap into her great potential playing for the Exodus NYC club this summer and under the tutelage of Bob Mackey at King high school.