Inside the spellbinding rise of Lara Somfai

An in-depth and unfiltered understanding of how the Stanford bound teenager has quickly become Australian basketball’s next big thing.

Photo: Supplied

Lara Somfai was just 12 years old when she received a letter.

It was an unexpected letter, addressed directly to her. This was unusual, because it wasn’t her birthday, nor did she have any bills, accounts, or subscriptions. But like Harry Potter receiving his invitation to join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this letter would be the start of a magical new chapter that would redefine Somfai’s entire future. Unlike Harry’s Hogwarts letter however, this envelope wasn’t handwritten, nor was it delivered by an owl. Instead, this letter was slightly more formal, with a printed typeface and delivered by traditional post. So, alongside her family, Lara Somfai sat down at her dining table, and opened it, unaware it was about to change the course of her future.

“I was just kinda in awe, like, ‘Oh my God, there’s no way they’re talking to me. I don’t even know who I am, and they’re talking to me.’”

Just like at 4 Privet Drive, that was the first letter to arrive, but certainly not the last. Over the coming years, envelopes from countless American colleges offering full basketball scholarships would fill the family’s letterbox and sprawl across the dining table, from programs great and small, esteemed and unknown.

“When I’d get home I would receive so much mail and so many letters, and my parents were like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so surreal’. Its definitely a super cool process, but after a while it does get kinda difficult.”

In hindsight, it was a process only fitting for a player who seems to emanate some kind of magic touch. It’s now led the now 17-year-old Somfai to one of the most storied colleges in the world. This summer, she’ll officially enrol at Stanford, hoping to continue her ascent as arguably Australia’s most talented teenager since Lauren Jackson.

But what exactly makes this now 17-year-old such a magical prospect?