Being five foot three has not stopped former South West basketballer Tori Dugan from achieving her goals and reaching a professional contract.
Dugan is training every day ahead of her flight to New Zealand to play for Southern Hoiho team in Dunedin.
But at the age of 25, Dugan has not had an easy ride in her basketball career.
While she grew up surrounded by the sport with her mum and aunty playing for the Wanneroo Wolves and her dad coaching, she didn't play basketball until she was 13.
"I just gave it a go and found I had a competitive drive for the game," she said.
From there Dugan was scouted to play in the South West Slammers as well as the state country teams for the under 16s and 18s.
Her first blow came when she was 17 years old and tried out for the WA 20s side and was cut.
"That setback hurt me a lot and I wanted to prove them wrong," she said.
Dugan is able to laugh about it now because the feedback at the time was that she didn't show enough leadership on the court.
"Leadership is one of my biggest strengths now," she said.
This led Dugan to looking at ways to play college basketball.
Through a recruiting agency, she received an offer from Lakelands College in Canada.
"Chris King, my coach, was the first coach to email me and I thought it was a joke," Dugan said.
"I didn't even know that Canadian colleges existed."
At the age of 18, Dugan moved across the world on a five-year scholarship where everything was paid for except accommodation and food.
"I absolutely hated it when I first arrived," Dugan said.
She said in Australia she was used to training two maybe three times a week and at college they trained every day, sometimes twice a day.
"Then there was weight and skills training on top of that," she said.
"My body couldn't keep up.
"I was calling mum and dad nearly every day begging them to take me home."
It got the point where Dugan wasn't going to her classes and in order to keep her scholarship she needed to get a 65 per cent grade average.
Things started to shift for Dugan when the team's current point guard got injured and it was Dugan's turn to fill in.
As she played she realised she was capable, but by then she had already failed the semester.
Dugan's coach told her she could keep playing if she could pay for the tuition herself.
"After that I played really well and was embracing the environment and culture and picking up my grades," she said.
What was supposed to be a five-year journey extended to an eight-year one, including taking a year away and then getting injured and then dealing with the the impacts of COVID-19.
The pandemic hit at the worst time for Dugan and her team, the Rustlers.
They had just won gold in their ACAC conference and were set to play nationals.
"I don't think I have experienced that amount of heartbreak within a group before," she said.
"We worked so hard for so long."
The whole next season was also cancelled due to the pandemic.
"I took the time to work my butt off and get in the best shape," Dugan said.
It paid off, with the Rustlers winning gold again in the ACAC conference, which Dugan said was the first team to go back to back with the title.
She also won the ACAC player of the year and athlete of the year awards.
While the Rustlers didn't progress far into the nationals competition, they did finish as third best team in northern Canada after competing in the Canadian College Association competition.
She also won the association player of the year alongside her coach who took out coach of the year.
While Dugan doesn't like to boast about the individual awards she has achieved, she admitted that it helped her get noticed on the professional stage.
"I'm more about how I can help the team," she said.
"I pride myself on trying to make everyone around me better."
Before signing with the New Zealand team, Dugan had planned on coming back to her junior stomping ground days with the South West Slammers.
She said she was keen to give back to the club that helped her get her career started.
"I got a message from a team in New Zealand that was too good to refuse," she said.
"You learn quickly that pro basketball is a business."
She said it was important to make the most of the opportunity to play basketball and in this way she could see the world at the same time.