Recruiting Update – Shay Thompson (2027 Sunset)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One of the breakout players in the Metro League last season, [player_tooltip player_id='2132804' first='Shay' last='Thompson'] wasn't satisfied. The all-around 6-foot-5 swingman from Sunset wanted to up his game even more and catch the attention of coaches at the next level this off-season, so he played high level club basketball and got seen and now he's aiming for a big senior year for himself and his Apollos teammates in 2026-27.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Things all started once his junior season ended when he laced up with [program_tooltip program_id='2078849' first='Team' last='Fly'] on the Nike EYCL circuit. "It was definitely a good opportunity to get out to (places like) the East Coast, just see how it is down over there," Thompson said. "Playing EYCL, not the EYBL, but EYCL was still really good competition out there. It was a good opportunity. I think it was definitely just an eye-opener of seeing the type of talent that's out there, and then playing [program_tooltip program_id='2078849' first='Team' last='Fly'] with Coach (Brendan) Jones, George Fox's assistant coach, he was just giving us a lot of actions that we can work on. We didn't have plays, but just things that we had various options to do, so I thought that was really cool to see how a college program would do things."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thompson was one of [program_tooltip program_id='2078849' first='Team' last='Fly']'s top prospects and playing with them really helped him work on the aspects of his game he wanted to improve over the off-season. "I would say definitely my mid-range, one dribble off the bounce, and then trying to improve the three-point, extend the range, and then also just like posting up," Thompson said. "If they put a little dude on me and shooting over the top of them."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Another goal for Thompson was to get recruiting looks and he's been talking to schools at various levels up and down the West Coast. Some of the programs he noted that have been in contact include Menlo College, San Francisco State, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, and George Fox. "(They are saying) just mostly like physically get stronger, improve the three, tighter handle," Thompson said. "I think I'm mostly looking for just like a good group of people that you're with because you're practicing with them all day every day. So I think just a good group of people and a coach that believes in developing you and have a team aspect of things, and just a program that's ready to get better."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There's no question his recruitment will develop as he and Sunset play this year - and it's going to be a challenging one that he's fully looking at embracing. "The schedule is definitely a strong one," Thompson said. "The LSI is going to be fun to compete in for the first time in a couple of years. I think we're playing only top ten teams in our schedule so it will be a good experience to face off with the best."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As far as his goals both for the team and individually? "I think for the team, winning as many games as we can," Thompson said. "But once we get to the end of the year, like trying to go as far as we can in the playoffs, just like get together more once the season goes along - I think that's super big. And individually, the leader aspect of things leadership is a big thing. I want to work on that - just coming to practice every day, getting teammates better, and lead to a positive result."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->