GREEN Thomas

General
CHARITY
In 2020 he founded the charity Gifted Org, which provides used technology devices for children in foster care in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia. "As an athlete I'm in a privileged position of having good health and I have taken the opportunity during Queensland's [COVID-19] lockdown to start a charity. The lockdown period highlighted the issues that children living in foster care have in regard to educational opportunities and in partnership with the Walk with Us Youth Academy, I have established a charity called Gifted Org. Gifted Org provides pre-loved technology such as iPads, tablets and laptops to children in foster care to enable online learning and social connectedness." (tokyo2020.org, 04 Sep 2020; paddle.org.au, 01 Sep 2020)

SCHOLARSHIP
In 2019 he became a part of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame [SAHOF] 2020 Scholarship and Mentoring Program. "It is an honour to receive a SAHOF scholarship and to have been recognised by my peers. Being mentored by [Australian swimmer] Grant Hackett, a sporting great, is a privilege that will help make my sporting dreams a reality. Leading into my first Olympic Games selection, he ran me through some of the scenarios from throughout his career when he had to qualify and dulled the situation down for me. As much as the two sports are different, there are a lot of similarities and he's taught me a lot about how to deal with the stress of competition." (goldcoastbulletin.com.au, 02 Jun 2020; paddle.org.au, 10 Sep 2019)

OLYMPIAN COACH
He is coached Australian sprint paddler Ken Wallace, who he admits was an idol of his when taking up the sport. "My [previous] coach would always talk about Kenny Wallace and then the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing came around and he succeeded [winning gold in the K1 500m event]. I followed him closely and when the Olympics were on, I watched pretty much the entire two weeks. He taught me how to paddle in a way and has passed on so much of his knowledge. He has taught me the lessons that he had to learn himself the hard way." (goldcoastbulletin.com.au, 02 Jun 2020)

OCCUPATION
He works as a lifeguard for the Gold Coast City Council in Australia. (goldcoastbulletin.com.au, 02 Jun 2020)