After a prolific season on the floor at South Greene Chandler Gamble has earned the opportunity to continue his basketball career, and on Tuesday he signed with Pellissippi State Community College.
“It feels good to sign today. It’s a big accomplishment and something that I’ve always dreamt about. This means the world to me,” Gamble said.
Gamble was named District 1-2A Player of the Year and the District Tournament MVP after leading the Rebels to the league championship.
He is moving on to a Pellissippi State program that just completed its first year of game play. The Panthers went 15-17 and ended their season as runners up in the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association’s Tournament. Gamble is excited to join the new program based in Knoxville, and has already built strong relationships with the Panthers’ coaches and players.
“I had some out of state offers, but I just couldn’t do that right now. I wanted to stay close to home,” Gamble said. “I love the coaches at Pellissippi State and there are some players that I played against at Halls that are there. So, I know a couple of guys going in and that nice.”
Much of Gamble’s success this season was because of his size and explosiveness on the block, but he knows to go inside at the next level will require more strength and plans on spending plenty of time in the weight room over the offseason. He is also excited to expand his perimeter game in the faster-paced college game.
“I know that it’s going to be a big change, but I just have to stay in the gym and work on my game,” Gamble said. “I know I’ll be going against bigger guys in college and I’ll have to stay in the weight room over the next couple of months. I’ve got to get stronger and more physical. I’ll be playing with the Pellissippi guys over the summer to get a feel for how it’s going to be. They plan on using me as a three or four. I like to shoot the ball a lot and I think that fits me perfectly. I feel like I can play the two through the five depending on the night and I’m excited for that.”
Gamble came to South Greene midway through his junior season after transferring from Halls, and though his time as a Rebel was short, he will be leaving the program with fond memories.
“Coming from a 4A school in Knoxville to a 2A school in Greeneville was a big change,” Gamble said. “But I felt like coach Hoese has done a great job with me. Sometimes I can lose my mind on the court, but he has helped me a lot. South Greene ended up being a better fit for me and has been really good for me.”
Gamble plans to major in business and is hopeful to get and opportunity to play at the Division I or Division II level after two years at Pellissippi State.
