BOISE, Idaho — Rare athletic talents can create rare situations. If you ask those that know 18-year-old Avery Howell, she's the rarest of the rare.
"It's not like it came easy, she worked for all of this," said Emily Harden, Howell's former coach. "Number one I've ever seen here. She works for it. She's in the gym constantly. Everybody knows that about Avery."
The former Boise High School basketball standout made the most of every opportunity this summer, playing for Team Canada and nearly joining the Team Idaho roster for the Paris Olympics.
"She kind of just shows all these younger kids that you can get to the top just by hard work," Harden said. "She's just grinded and she's put Idaho on the map, really."
Howell gained a wealth of experience and now has her eyes on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, another goal within reach based on work done in the dark.
"I love it – loving the process, loving the work," Howell said. "You can't just love the glory and the achievements, because those are just small moments. Obviously there's days where I don't love it, I don't wanna go to the gym, but that's part of it – showing up when you don't want to."
It's only been a few months since Howell was playing in the 5A Idaho high school girls basketball state tournament, with plans to join the rarest recruiting class in the country at USC this fall.
"Sometimes I'm a little hard on myself because I'm a really competitive person, I have high expectations," Howell said. "I was just thinking back on how big of a jump that is and I was like, 'that's just crazy.'"
Howell's recruitment didn't stop with signing with the Trojans.
"I also got a U.S. invite to play for the U18s or to play for the Canadian U18s," Howell said.
Two different national teams also took their shot at adding the gifted shooter, who captured back-to-back Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year honors.
"I think with the way my recruiting process kind of happened and the type of player I am and like how I play on the court, I just feel like it fits the Canadian style better," Howell said.
It was at that moment her summer took a U18 U-turn.
Howell – a dual citizen who's mother was born and raised in British Columbia – committed to go north of the border, where she quickly crossed over to Canada's Senior Women's National Team.
"I was supposed to be playing on the U18 roster," Howell said. "I went to the camp and the senior head coach was there and he invited me to the senior team. After he was kind of like, 'okay, we want to pull you with the senior team for the rest of the summer.'"
Over the last two months, Howell has missed some moments.
"I think it's really different than like a lot of regular high schoolers," Howell said. "I missed my graduation to go to the senior team."
She also made some memories – the pros of it all, outweighing the cons.
"Playing against that high of a level, like all of these women – a lot of them – are like 30 years old and they've been playing professional basketball, some of them have been in the WNBA," Howell said. "Going against that every single day in practice, that's gonna get me better."
Most recently, Howell traveled to Europe as an alternate for Team Canada, helping them prepare for Paris.
"Basically there's four WNBA players that are going to be on the Olympic roster, so they need four players to fill their roles until they come in," Howell said.
While her Olympic dreams rimmed just short this time, the 2028 Games could lead to another rare opportunity – a chance to play in the Olympics in the same city she will play in at USC.
"I've grown up watching the Olympics, it's definitely a dream to play in them. Hopefully I can get multiple in," Howell said. "I just think it's something that everyone is like, 'you're an Olympian.' That's like the standard, that's the goal for a lot of high-level athletes. So, hopefully I can get there. I think I can and I just think it's a super big honor to be this close."