One of many star players for the Dallas Mavericks is Dirk Nowitzki who stands seven feet tall and weighs 237 pounds. But, before he got to the NBA he started out as a young boy born in Wurzburg, Germany. At a young age both Dirk and his sister had a love for basketball which came from their mother who played for the German Women’s National Basketball Team. As childeren they both played against one another in one on one games, as this was the start to his career in the NBA.This great superstar started out playing one on one and pick-up games as a young boy to become one of the great players of today. Later on in his career while he played at his local high school in Wurzburg he was an all-star. After he graduated from high school he had a few chances to go to college. One college he had a chance of going to play as a Freshman was Penn State. But, sadly his chances of going to Penn State or any other college were crushed when he was drafted into the civil service in Germany. He was still able to play pro basketball on weekends but he still had to serve from September 1997 until June 1998. But after his military action ended he still played professional basketball. Even while he was still in the military he got international recognition. In March 1998 during the Nike Hoop Summit in San Antonio, Texas he scored 33 points and had 14 rebounds and he led his team to a win over the USA team. It wasn’t until later that year that he declared for the 1998 NBA Draft. He finally had his big shot to get to the NBA! Once in the draft is