Thomas GARETON '17 Recruiting Profile

Hello,

I grew up in a multi cultural trilingual household, my parents traveled the world for work, I was born in Sydney, Australia with a French passport, grew up in California and lived in London, UK for 2 years while going on vacations in Spain every year since 1999. As a family we've always shared high respect for our bodies and minds, my mother has danced her entire life and continues to do so as an amateur, my sisters played varsity Volley Ball at the International School of Los Angeles and my father was Volley Ball national champion in his youth in France.

Traveling and business have always gone together and I would love to contribute to a better understanding between populations thru exchange and commerce. This is the reason I ambition to major in Business and eventually, later, with a master's degree.

As I've lived in many countries and currently go to school with 47 different nationalities here in LA, I've always had much curiosity in others, who they are as individuals, and who they are as players. I have studied the game a lot through books, tapes and videos. Most importantly I practiced hard with my school and my club as well as camps during the summer. I tend to go for the perfect assist versus my own points because I believe in statistics. Why should I risk a blocked lay-up when my Center or Power Forward is open for a dunk? I enjoy the speed in a game, movement, fast breaks and passes. I also strive in those milliseconds of space to take a 3 point shot. My teammates are my "mates" as we say in Australia, they are my friends. We work hard and push each other to improve, progress and get better at the game. We also recognize that we are not all identical and value each other's strength while we understand our weaknesses. Phil Jackson once said "it's not practice that makes perfect, it's perfect practice that makes perfect". I value this. I will never be 7 feet tall and 250 pounds, so I understand that I need to be smarter, faster,quicker while being more agile and precise. This is my objective every time I go to the gym, for practice or game. This is the reason I need to keep my weighted GPA above 4, taking Honor Classes and shooting for 3 APs in order to get an AP Merit Scholarship.

My parents  made me start school early,  being only 15 years old standing at 6 feet and 1 inch and 170 pounds is not easy for a Junior when others are closer to 17 years of age. However, I play over 35 minutes per game both in my club team and my high-school team.  I continue to deliver straight A's on my report card. Being only 15 I'm in no rush, but would love to play College Basket Ball,  in order to take my game to the next level and shine in Academics. My goal is to be the best student and the best athlete I can be.