Graham Yanowitch '25 Recruiting Profile

My name is Graham Yanowitch, and I am 17 years old, and am presently a junior at the Palmer Trinity School

in Palmetto Bay, Florida (just south of Miami, Florida), and will graduate in 2025. I maintain an “A” average at

school while being a full-time starter on the Palmer Trinity School basketball team as a junior. It takes a lot

of hard work to pursue excellence as a student/athlete in the classroom and on the court. Nevertheless, I am as

much committed to do whatever it takes to improve myself both as a student and as a basketball player.

Basketball has been an amazing life journey for me, and it is a journey I hope is far from over. Basketball has been

my primary athletic focus since I was 7 years old. At that time, I played for Coach Afiba Bertrand and the “Sharks”.

We competed against kids in the same South Miami basketball recreation league as the kids of many NBA players,

including Lebron James, Ray Allen and Carlos Boozer.

Even at a young age I showed a special talent for being a “dog” on defense and as a shot blocker. Coach Afiba said

that he had to modify his team practice drills because he had never had a kid on his team who could block as many

shots as I did during a practice.

In the eight years since then I have consistently expended the extra necessary to improve my game. I have

benefitted from years of training with Coach Bertrand. I have also been able to work on my handle and moves

with Coach Bryce Stanhope of “I’m Possible Training”. www.possibletraining.com. Though based in Michigan,

Coach Stanhope moved to Miami for a couple of years to work with NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo who now plays for

the NBA’s Miami Heat. While in Miami working with Victor Oladipo, Coach Stanhope also gave weekly training

sessions for kids. I went to many of Coach Stanhope’s training sessions, and benefitted from his unique NBA skills

training approach.

Putting in the extra work in the “lab” to get better has been essential to my basketball journey. I have attended

many other basketball summer camps including: IMG Academy’s summer camp in Bradenton, Florida; the Embry

Riddle Team Camp in Daytona, Florida; the University of Miami basketball team summer camp; the Miami Heat

summer camp; and multiple summer camps with my middle school travel team called “Team Pete Blue Rays”. I

have also participated in off season cross training and strength programs at the Palmer Trinity School.

To gain even more experience, last year I also played on a travel team called “G Force” which is run by the former

Miami Heat player, Glen Rice, and his son G'mitri Rice. I was really fortunate in having an opportunity to be

coached up by Coach Glen. After working with me and watching me compete for his team, I felt humbled that

Coach Glen was complimentary of my game, and told me that with hard work I had the talent to go as far as I

wanted in basketball.

I continue to work on my game as Coach Glen told me too. At Palmer Trinity School I am Coach Manny Bloom,

who is a very experienced and dedicated coach, from whom I have learned a lot. I continue to put in the extra

work needed to improve my game and plan to continue to put in extra work. I have grown to become 6’5, and can

now jump high enough to dunk the ball. Based upon the progress I have made with my game, particularly on the

offensive side, this year I have a much larger role as a starter and captain on my school’s varsity team. My best game last

season came against a high school called University School at Nova Southeastern University at Ft. Lauderdale,

Florida (where the NBA Raptors Scottie Barnes, and Vernon Carey, Jr. both attended), and I scored 27 points,

including six three pointers. This year, I've made a big leap, and many games come into consideration, whether it's points, rebounds, or blocks is up to consideration when determining the "best game". At the end of the season, I set two records. The most blocks in a game(8), and blocks in a season (67). I also received the MVP trophy at my school's Athletic Award Assembly.

Basketball is a passion that for me, extends outside of being solely a player. This spring marks my second year as a head coach for my local basketball league, and I have also helped coach a summer basketball camp at my school and was employed at a local basketball/summer camp for players younger than me.

I do have other hobbies outside of the sport in which I express through clubs that I participate at school and jobs. First, my Model UN club, which has taken me all the way to Europe, has been something that I have invested myself into since 7th grade. I have finally been selected to become an officer of the club and chaired my first committee in March, 2024. As well, I am the club president of the SDA (Student Demand Action) club at Palmer Trinity, in which we raise attention and money for gun violence suppression, and are involved activism for gun violence legislation that will limit school shootings around the nation. The mosaic program, a program that discusses current issues in the world that aren't discussed in the classroom, I have been selected as a club leader to monitor and teach the students who go on and discuss these issues with grades ranging from 6-12th grade. Lastly, the peer counseling club is one that I have been selected into. In this club, we help the mental health of students who are struggling in middle or high school with either one on one sessions, convocations, or putting up posters around the school letting them know they aren't alone. 

I am grateful for Coach Glen’s willingness to share his passion for the game, and for his inspiration and support. I

intend to do everything I can to prove that his judgment about me was right. When I started out at the South

Miami recreational league I never thought that I would be coached up by an NBA great like Coach Glen. Like I said,

for me playing basketball has been an amazing journey.