MIAMI (CBS4) – Jeanette Vecchione held the record for 3 pointers at Longwood High School in Long Island, New York. She was a 5-foot-5 inch firehouse of a point guard!

“I worked all year round to get as good as I could,” said Vecchione. “I had full write off from Division 1 schools.”

But then one day in chorus everything changed.

“I was just joking around one day singing opera and the chorus teacher said, ‘Woah! Keep singing like that’, I was like ‘Oh gosh, I’m making fun!’” said Vecchione. “Then she called my parents and she came back and said ‘Jeanette you are not a basketball player you’re an opera singer’.”

Soon her dreams of sinking shots turned to singing songs as a soprano. Jeanette went onto study at Julliard, receiving a full scholarship where she learned to go from basketball to Bellini.

“I took classes in languages and phonetics and how to speak and sing and sound authentic. They worked on my NY accent a lot it still comes out that’s just who I am!” she said.

This weekend she makes her South Florida debut singing the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” with the Florida Grand Opera.

Now at age 28, Vecchione said she still has it when comes to basketball, but these days she’s having a ball pursuing her new dream that has her traveling the world.

“I’m really excited! The Florida Grand Opera is amazing, some of the best singers are  here. They are bringing young audiences to opera, which I’m a big fan of,” she explained.

For more info on dates and times : www.fgo.com