The 21-year-old Otago basketball player has lived and played in three different countries, being exposed to some high-level programmes along the way.
Now in her second stint playing in Otago, Pattison was last week named in the tournament team at the under-23 national championships.
It had been her first time in a national tournament team, having been influential in Otago's third-placing, although she was quick to deflect the praise.
"I was stoked, I think it was a real team effort, I couldn't have done it without the girls,'' the guard said.
"But I was just having fun out there and it paid off."
Not the only Otago player to receive recognition, Josh Aitcheson was named in the men's team, while Invercargill's Aliyah Dunn, who played for Otago, joined Pattison in the women's team.
Pattison said the tournament had been "awesome" and that the team had played well, although was a bit disappointed not to make the final.
It was the latest stop in a life that she called ``quite interesting''.
Having grown up on Waiheke Island, she first played for Auckland and West Auckland, before moving to Wanaka aged 14 with her family.
There she attended Mount Aspiring College and played for Central Otago her first year, then Otago the next year.
Her family then relocated to the Gold Coast, exposing her to Australia's sporting system which she said had been on another level.
There she had successes at high school level, alongside playing for several representative teams, including the Gold Coast team in the Queensland Basketball League.
She then spent a year ``living and breathing basketball'' while playing at Santa Barbara City College in the US for the 2015/16 season.
Despite receiving several offers to transfer up to a division two college, she decided to return to Otago in July last year for academic reasons.
Now close to finishing a communications and media degree, she had been enjoying her time back in the region.
Alongside this year's under-23 success, she captained the team that finished second at last year's tournament and was a member of the Otago Gold Rush this year.
She plays club basketball for Varsity and also coaches the men's A grade team along with Gold Rush team mate Grace Love.
It leaves her with an impressive CV.
She spoke favourably of basketball in Otago when asked how it compared to her other experiences, although thought funding and numbers posed greater challenges than in Australia.
"I think Otago has a really awesome programme, there's some really influential people down here that put in a lot of time and work.
"The players, I feel like they really put a lot of time and energy into what they love.
"In Otago, and New Zealand in general, we struggle with funding, which makes participating difficult at times.
"I think that in Australia there's a lot more [. . .] opportunity and a lot more players, we struggle for numbers down here sometimes.
"But I think the people that are doing it and the people that are involved are putting their best foot forward and ready to help whoever wants help.''
Never one to stay still too long, Pattison is set to do an exchange to California for a semester to finish her degree next year.
She then hoped to go on to law school, likely in Melbourne.
There she planned to study contract law, with the ultimate goal of working with professional sports contracts.
As far as basketball went, she would look to stay involved where there was the opportunity although had no plans set out at this stage.
