Growing up with a dad who was a longtime member of the Harlem Globetrotters, McKenzie Forbes never had a shortage of moves or basketball tricks in her back pocket.
Two years ago, she decided to master spinning a basketball on her finger.
She practiced relentlessly -- before school, in between homework assignments and during TV commercials. When she timed herself against her dad, Sterling "Smooth" Forbes, she surprised even herself. Her dad lost the ball after four minutes. She went much longer: 6 minutes, 12 seconds.
"It was crazy because I had worked so obsessively to get this time," Forbes said. "It was a pretty cool moment because he had so much confidence that he was going to beat me.
"He was like, 'There's no way you'll spin it longer than me.'"
In a way, Forbes' obsession with the trick symbolizes her never-give-up attitude.
"Her competitive drive is unreal," Folsom coach Lynn Wolking said. "Anything where there's a score kept, she's so motivated by winning and not losing."
The 6-foot wing, ranked No. 40 in the espnW HoopGurlz Super 60 for the 2018 class, brings a fierce edge -- not to mention her Globetrotter pizzazz -- to Folsom.
She routinely pulls off behind-the-back passes during games, a move she has become known for in the Sacramento area. Last year as a sophomore, Forbes averaged 12.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.9 blocks per game.
"She's got that inner fire," said Wolking, who has known Forbes since she was 3. "I know some of the coaches who are recruiting her have mentioned it on multiple occasions."
When she was younger, Forbes and her three older brothers -- Mason, 17, Max, 19, and Marcus, 21 -- routinely attended Globetrotter games as VIPs. Sterling taught Globetrotter camps across the nation, which the kids attended.
That's how McKenzie realized basketball is bigger than wins and losses.
"For us, it was like, 'OK. This is our dad.' We see him every day," Forbes said. "We practice with him. We eat dinner with him. But to see the impact he can make and just the smile that you can put on someone's face through basketball, that really taught us about the game."
Growing up with the boys
Forbes sampled nearly every sport available as a youngster.
She played baseball, soccer and football, mirroring the sports her older brothers liked. When she was 7, the Folsom Junior Bulldog Mighty Mite team named her starting quarterback. Although the only girl in a program of about 100 boys, she always felt welcome.
"Everything my brothers did," Forbes said, "I was like, 'OK. I'm doing that too.' There wasn't really a question about it."
She threw touchdown passes to her brother Mason -- the team's receiver -- in her second year.
"I definitely think it helped with my toughness factor," Forbes said. "I love the contact and going to the rim. I think playing football definitely had a hand in that."
Forbes played on the gridiron for four years, but her family could see that basketball was her first love. In third grade, she began asking her parents to see local college basketball games in Northern California. She was also hard at work on her ballhandling skills, which her father said has paid dividends already.
"One of her biggest assets is her ability to handle the ball," Sterling said. "That's a big advantage for kids because they're not afraid of pressure or being pressed."
Forbes played basketball with boys until seventh grade and joined Arizona Select's AAU team after her freshman year at Folsom. For her initial tryout, she and her family drove 12 hours straight to Phoenix.
Many weekends, Forbes flies to Phoenix on Friday and comes back Sunday. She has grown accustomed to the travel. When she gets to college, she said it won't be too much of an adjustment to balance school and travel.
"She just loves the game that much that it doesn't bother her," Sterling said. "She sacrifices because she has a vision that she wants to play college basketball at a high level."
Spinning to the future
Forbes has had college coaches interested in her game since she was offered her first scholarship in eighth grade. She has trimmed her list to California, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon, USC, Ohio State, Louisville, Kentucky, Tennessee, Baylor and South Carolina.
Last month, she asked her dad to order Pac-12 Network so she can keep a closer eye on programs on the West Coast.
"I know what I'm looking for in a coaching style and staff," Forbes said. "I feel like I needed to see that, considering a lot of schools I'm talking to are in the Pac-12. It was a necessity."
Those closest to Forbes know that wherever she ends up, she will be successful.
"Anywhere she goes in college, she will be like a sponge," Wolking said. "You can go through something one time, and she gets it."
The final piece on Forbes' preseason list is her 3-point shot.
"The range is there, but just trying to get it very, very consistent before high school season," she said.
If she does, she'll leave coaches and fans near and far awestruck, mirroring the astonished looks her father brought to Globetrotter fans around the world.