Lili Thompson’s greatest basketball achievement is now part of her nickname: Champ.

The former Punahou hoopster who was part of Notre Dame’s 2018 national championship team, is now a member of the Harlem Globetrotters. She has taken her skills on tour, and those skills include way more than shooting and dribbling and entertaining.

“For me, what I love about it is interacting with the kids, not only at Harlem Globetrotters games but going into schools and children’s hospitals,” Thompson said in a recent phone interview. “We have the Smile Patrol (a hospital community outreach program) and anti-bullying assemblies. It’s so much more than basketball. It’s a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying it.”

Thompson played as a freshman for the Buffanblu varsity team before transferring to the mainland in 2010 for her final three years of high school. She then went on to play three years for Stanford and one as a graduate student transfer for the Fighting Irish, but she suffered a season-ending ACL injury midway through that national championship season.

As a 7-year-old, Thompson went to a Globetrotters camp at Schofield Barracks, and it just so happens there was a family connection. Berry Hardy, a former Brigham Young-Hawaii player who is now in his ninth year as the coach of the Globetrotters, was part of the Globetrotters back then. In high school in Michigan, Hardy played for George Thompson, Lili’s grandfather, a Michigan high school hall of fame coach.

“My goal was always to play pro basketball,” said Thompson, whose full first name is Khaliyah. “But after my senior year and that ACL injury, I thought the timing (with the Globetrotters) might work out.”

As for the in-game Globetrotters shenanigans and comedy, Thompson said, “It’s pretty much a big party out there. This year, we are more fan-powered, more interaction than ever before.”

Thompson, who is 23 and 5 feet 7, moved with her family to Hawaii in 2003. She went to school on military bases before her freshman year at Punahou.

“It’s a huge school and it’s almost like a college campus,” she said about Punahou. “It really prepared me for college — the expectations, the atmosphere — and I made so many good friends there. I enjoyed my time there. In general, I was a focused young person, building good habits on the court and classroom and I carried that with me into college. It helped a lot.”

Her biggest Globetrotters highlight so far?

“Every time I go into a school or a hospital and I see faces light up,” Thompson said. “At a hospital, I spin the ball on the finger of a kid who hasn’t been home in months. They’re laughing and giggling and it shows the impact that we’re having on them.”

Punahou athletic director Kale Ane remembers her as a highly talented guard, a hard worker and more.

“She was a great student,” Ane said. “She had gone to a bunch of camps on the mainland and she was getting letters from (former Tennessee coach) Pat Summitt and Stanford. It was exciting to have someone of that ability here. I remember going through the gym and seeing her shooting baskets whenever she could. She was asked to work on her defense and she did all kinds of defensive steps and walk-throughs. She had a huge goal to play Division I at a big-time school. It was great to see her play at Stanford and Notre Dame and now with the Globetrotters. She could have gone and played in college anywhere she wanted, but chose Stanford for the balance of academics and athletics. I remember her as also having a great, very supportive family.”

Thompson earned All-Pac-12 honors twice with the Cardinal and eventually got her master’s degree at Notre Dame.

There are 51 players and four coaches on the Globetrotters roster and not all of them appear at every event. As a matter of fact, there are often three Globetrotters games in three different locations on the same day. Between Dec. 26 and May 19, when the 2018-19 world tour ends, the team will play 234 dates in the U.S. and 77 internationally. The team is in its 93rd season, and Thompson is one of 10 in this year’s rookie class.

The Globetrotters last played in Hawaii at Blaisdell Arena in 2017.

“Aloha to all my Hawaii family and hopefully we’ll be out there soon with the Globetrotters,” Thompson said.