TJC Sophomore Spotlight: Thaabit Baartman

Published 3:30 pm Thursday, March 26, 2020

With junior college sports canceled, the Tyler Morning Telegraph is profiling Tyler Junior College sophomores.

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Name: Thaabit Baartman

Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa

High School: Arcadia Senior Secondary School

Parents Names: Shariefa and Rashaad Baartman

Brothers Names: Naeem and Irshaad Baartman

Sports: Men’s Soccer

Favorite TJC Sports Memory: The brotherhood in the team. The way everyone supports each other no matter where they are from or which religion they practice

Plans after TJC: Transferring to University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) to continue my studies and lifelong dream of playing professional soccer one day

Favorite song: I don’t have a favorite song but “Amapiano” is my favorite kind of music, which is a South African kind of music

Favorite TV show: Friends

Favorite movie: Goal

Role Models: Paul Pogba and Nazeem Bartman, he is my cousin and he too played here at TJC a while back and I’ve always looked up to him

Favorite teacher: Dickey Dale

Where do I see myself in 10 years: I see myself hopefully playing professional soccer, being able to give my family a better life and hopefully help young soccer players get opportunities as I did to come play and study at TJC.

Something that people don’t know about me: Basically where I’m from it’s not a safe place so I would say that it’s like the ghetto and not many people know that part about me.

What I’ll miss most about TJC: I’ll miss my teammates. I’ll miss the brotherhood, how everyone was supportive toward each other; the togetherness we had as a team; not only were they my teammates but all of them became my family. So I would say living with my teammates is what I’ll miss the most.