Jeanne Gaumont (’14) Commits To William and Mary

On November 11, 2013, Jeanne Gaumont (6’0”, F, Champlain College, 2014) of Montreal, QC announced that she would be accepting a full scholarship from NCAA’s William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.

“I’m very lucky to have a chance at such at great experience”, said Gaumont, appreciative of the chance to attend the Colonial Athletic Association Conference School next Fall.

Gaumont is a versatile Forward. She is a Wing/Forward that is comfortable putting the ball on the floor from the perimeter and shooting the Three. Her shooting prowess was on full display as recently as the end of September during the Northeast Elite Fall Ball College Showcase hosted by Tabor Academy in Marion, MA. There, she was lights out from long-range, even connecting on eight 3-pointers in a single game.

Long range shooting like that will be high on her in-game to-do list when she suits up for the William and Mary Tribe.

“Yeah, that’s what I do the best:” said Gaumont, matter of factly, “Shoot the ball!”

“Well,” she said reconsidering other aspects of her game, “Not just shot the ball, but drive to the basket and grab some boards.”

“During my visit I found that they were very, very nice,” she said about her impression of new Tribe Head Coach, Ed Swanson and his staff that are settling in on their first season with the school. “I had a chance to talk with the girls on the team and they love him. In their opinion and in mine too, he will make great changes in the program. So, that’s why I decided to go there.”

With extremely high academics aspirations, Gaumont’s search for the right school was led by her 85% scholastic average. In that, the future Speech Therapist, looking to Major in either Speech Pathology or Linguistics, was also seriously considering Northeastern and Ohio University, both of whom she visited, as other options.

In the end, it came down to William and Mary’s reassuring feeling and education which many consider to be on par with those in the Ivy League.

“It’s a good school academically and also during my visit, I was feeling comfortable. And, I feel that the next four years will be great down there.”

News of this commitment marks Champlain College’s fifth NCAA D1 recruit in the past 3 years with several more heading to the CIS.

How have they been so successful? We get a little bit of a glimpse in to that reason when Gaumont spoke about how she was readied by the Montreal CÉGEP.
“I’m very happy to be like a few of my teammates last year and get to the States and represent the Champlain program,” referring to her Class of 2013 teammates Kathleen Belanger-Finn, Jessica Fequiere and Jennifer Mathurin.

“Champlain has done an amazing job. When I came down there I was 100% Francophone. I had to learn English, and basketball wise they prepared me and my teammates to play at a high level. The Coaches, Georges [Germanos] and Michel [Metellus] did an amazing job.”

The appreciative, soft-spoken Gaumont also wanted to go the next step and show her appreciation to a few other that were a tremendous support to her t this point as well. “My family and my friends because they really encouraged me to go all the way through the experience.”