TyGee Leach ’19 has been playing hard and Running MP not just offensively, but defensively too.

Leach, who has been on Malvern’s varsity Basketball team since his freshman year, has had a tremendous season. Although he may not be the tallest player on the floor, he has great heart. Using one word to describe himself as a basketball player, he chose “energetic”.

“As a basketball player, I believe that I am a shorter but quicker guard,” Leach said. “I like to play defense a lot, so kind of a defensive specialist. I do whatever helps the team win.”

Head Coach John Harmatuk and the coaching staff rely on Leach to guard the other team’s strongest offensive player.

“Leach is our best defensive player,” Harmatuk said. “He plays the hardest every single game, he is our defensive leader and plays the game with such passion.”

It is never easy guarding the “MVP” of the opposing team, but Leach meets this challenge with confidence and positivity.

“I love being assigned to the other team’s best player,” Leach said. “My goal is to guard him and shut him down.”

Leach’s upbeat personality can be seen not just on the court, but off of it as well.

“He is always happy, and it is an infectious happiness. Leach makes other people smile when he is around,” Harmatuk said.

Junior Ashton Canavan, one of Leach’s teammates, has seen great things from him this season.

“Leach is a great player,” Canavan said. “He is a great defender and sets up his teammates well. He knows how to use his body to his advantage on both offense and defense.”

With Leach’s versatility, Malvern basketball has had a great season. Having gone 17-7 as of February 9, 18-8 throughout the course of the season, and 8-2 in the Inter-Ac placing second, this was the most success Malvern has had since 2012, which was the last time they won an Inter-Ac Championship.

“It has been a great year,” Harmatuk said. “We are 7-2 in league play, hopefully finish 8-2, which is clearly second. Little disappointed in the fact that we didn’t take care of Haverford at our place, and the two of us would have shared the Inter-Ac title. But I really like how much we grew, the guys really came together as a team.”

An essential part of winning games is working together as a team. Leach and his teammates have done a great job in doing that this season.

“This year is probably our closest year, as being more close as teammates than the past years,” Leach said. “Everyone connects, everyone bonds, and everyone talks together in the locker room.”

All of these key assets attribute to Malvern’s core values of truth, unity, and love. Leach and his teammates strive to live them out on and off the court.

“We are always truthful to each other,” Leach said. “We speak our minds to each other; we don’t like something, we say it. We accept that positively, and we will never accept anything negatively between each other.”

Leach went on to discuss the love that can be seen on the team.

“We all love each other, we love playing with each other,” Leach said. “We enjoy each other’s company.”

As for the unity, “I think for as young as we are this year, I think we are succeeding real good. And playing as an older team next year, we look forward to winning the Inter-Ac,” Leach said.

Leach’s dedication to basketball started when he was six years old, and he has been working hard at it ever since.

“That is when I really started loving the sport,” he said. “Later, I began working out a lot and dedicating a lot of time between that and football.”

Canavan, who has known Leach since eighth grade, was very complimentary of his friend and teammate.

“He’s a great kid and definitely funny,” Canavan said. “He is also a freak athlete, being a two sport star as a junior.”

Overall, Leach is a great man on and off the court.

“Whenever TyGee’s name gets brought up, I always say that he is one of my favorite kids I ever coached,” Harmatuk said. “He has a great personality. He is happy all the time, and he is a fun kid to be around.”