by Ryan Howard<br/>UTsports.com<br/>
Young people often grow up wanting to be anything from astronauts to professional athletes. However, when Jeronne Maymon is done with basketball, he aspires to become a relationship therapist.
"That's one of my dreams," Maymon said. "The goal is to make some money after college to support myself. If basketball puts me in the right position to do that, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity. But I also really want to be a marriage counselor."
Maymon even chose psychology as his major because he thought it would help him to dole out advice one day, although he's been practicing since he was young.
"Growing up, I used to try and give advice to my friends and people around me going through different situations," Maymon said. "I just really liked it. I thought, `OK, I'm kind of good at this, so I might as well try and study it and become better at it.'"
The Madison, Wis., native is unlikely to settle for less than achieving his career aspirations. In fact, Maymon has a unique chance to pursue two dreams.
The junior showed he has potential to pursue a career in basketball after posting career-bests with 32 points and 20 rebounds in a 99-97 double overtime loss to a top-10 Memphis team at the Maui Invitational.
Since then, he's continued to be a consistent force in the paint for Tennessee, averaging 11.9 points, and leading the team with eight rebounds per game.
But Maymon's game isn't just limited to scoring and rebounding. He also averages an assist per game.
"A lot of people say I pass too much," Maymon said. "It's just in my nature to pass the ball and try and facilitate more than I look to score."
Maymon is also assisting his teammates off the court. Most of his younger teammates are adjusting to receiving a significant amount of playing time for the first time in their collegiate careers and just college life in general. <br clear="left"/>
<br/> "I mostly try and get in their head and help them mentally," Maymon said. "Continue to try and tell them about the ups and downs and stuff like what to do at the end of the game when we're up five or down five."Part of being a good communicator is being a good listener. Thus, Maymon also gets help from his teammates, who provide him the opportunity to gain real-life relationship counseling experience."I help out a lot of teammates with their individual situations," Maymon said. "I never really get both sides unless I am friends with the girl, but it is kind of like a one-sided experiment."
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