Tommy McMahon ‘25, a two-time Deerfield Boys’ Varsity Basketball Captain and Varsity Tennis player, recently committed to St. Lawrence University to continue his basketball career. McMahon has “ been playing basketball for as long as [he] can remember,” but it wasn’t until a couple years ago where he started to focus more on basketball and less on his other respective sports.  He says, “growing up, I played a new sport every season, and my favorite sport was the one I was playing at the time, until about seventh or eighth grade.”

After realizing that basketball was his favorite sport, he decided to spend more time on it and began to think about the possibility of playing basketball in college. 

When McMahon began the recruiting process, he said that he first pursued a wide variety of schools to figure out what type of university he was looking for. After research and help from coaches, advisors, and his parents, he realized that he was looking for a smaller school with good academics and a good alumni network. He also noted that he wanted “a school that [he] thinks [he] can contribute to in [his] earlier years, and a school that competes and wins.”

After visiting St. Lawrence over the summer and then again in the fall of 2024, he “realized that St. Lawrence checks all the boxes.”

In regards to the upcoming basketball season, McMahon expressed that he is very optimistic. According to McMahon everyone has been putting in the work during the fall by going to open gyms, events hosted by the basketball program, where anyone can play. 

He also notes, “We got some great new pieces. Two new juniors, Harry Miles ‘26 and Elijah Webb ‘26 are gonna be a great help to us. And then we’re adding a couple post grads and seniors that didn’t play last year. I think we have all the pieces to be great.” 

McMahon reflects his optimism for the upcoming season and talks  highly about his teammates and the team’s culture. He comments on last year’s team culture by saying, “We had a super close, tight knit group. We were always competitive. We always worked hard.”

McMahon also talks about how Deerfield was a big adjustment from his old school as he was a new junior. He says that he felt very welcomed and supported by his teammates, which helped him with the adjustment. He states that, “it was helpful that a lot of  the kids on the team last year were new as well, so we were kind of going through it together.”

While Deerfield Boys Varsity Basketball is a huge part of McMahon’s Deerfield experience, he also acknowledges Deerfield Boys Varsity Tennis and the team’s contribution to his life. He notes his roles on the teams by commenting on his position as a captain on the basketball team and “being a little bit more of a locker room guy and kind of lead by example [on the tennis team].”  Despite his different roles, he appreciates both teams for their fun and hard-working team environments. 

He says, “I would say both teams work very hard, which is nice…It’s fun to be a part of kind of scrappy teams that want to win. I say they both are scrappy teams. And both teams just have great cultures, and it’s fun to be around them. I’m always looking forward to getting dinner after practice with the guys.”