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<SPAN id=body0>By Jermaine Wright
Former player in the Reggae Boyz youth system, Keith Kelly, is holding firm to the adage: “It’s not how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get back up,” and has latched on to it as his mantra to propel himself back into the level of success he enjoyed at the top of his game.
“Now I am basically starting all over again and coming back to Harbour View is a step in the right direction for me,” Kelly told Sunday Herald.
Now signed to current Wray and Nephew National Premier League leaders and former champions Harbour View Football Club, Kelly is remaining positive, hoping to wipe the slate clean and reinvent what was once a bright future.
Kelly, who played from 1998 – 2003 (Under- 17, Under-20, Under-23), arguably Jamaica’s most promising football period, is living with the harsh reality of grave disappointment, following several short unfulfilled club stints and a battle with injuries.
A fall into obscurity following his exploits at the youth level and a call to one of Europe’s most prestigious football clubs (French League 1) – Paris Saint Germain at the tender age of 17, left devoted Reggae Boyz supporters pondering if he is yet another Reggae Boy who promised so much, but somehow fell through the cracks.
The central midfielder first impressed during his rise through the Harbour View Football Club youth system with a regal 1998 Manning Cup for Wolmer’s High. Then, he was a general in the midfield both in play and gesture, personifying the “salute” along the way to a memorable season.
He then followed up with an impressive Under-17 World Cup qualifying and tournament, which resulted in PSG scouts yielding to temptation. At that time, Ricardo ‘Bibbi’ Gardner’s Bolton Wanderers (English Premier League) call up, was the only precedence.
But a two-year stint at the former French league champion’s world-class academy, where he once played alongside the likes of Ronaldinho, Jay Jay Okocha, Nicolas Anelka, Obikwelu, Mendi and more, didn’t bear as much fruit as expected. A short loan stint to Belgian club RAEC Mons followed, then a return to the Caribbean where some bidding (clubs) squabbles and stifling injuries ensued.
Injuries
First an arthroscopic knee surgery in 2005 hampered his stint with the ‘Junglists’ – Arnett Gardens FC, followed shortly by a dislocated fibula, suffered while playing for Trinidadian club San Juan Jabloteh. The former Port Royal FC midfielder is still feeling the ill-effects of that injury to this day.
He is constantly reminded of the devastating injury by the four screws that hold the small bones together in his foot that was broken in three places.
Kelly, whose motivation has wavered in the past, will have to muster up as much as he can as a long, narrow road awaits him. The bulky Kelly awaits results from an X-ray due March 26, which will shed some light on whether he should go back under the knife. However, regardless of the outcome, his latest injury will force him to sit out the rest of the local season.
Unfulfilled run
An almost two-year injury lay-off, coupled with the recent unfortunate death of former new-found confidant Courtney Livingston, an Arnett Gardens FC official, which at the time added grief to injury, is hard to face. But Kelly still pinpoints his obscurity at the senior level as the most bothersome.
The injuries are extremely frustrating and confusing but I believe that I deserved a better shot considering the experience I gained overseas,” he assessed.
Despite his overseas exposure, his central role in leading Jamaica to both the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups, which Kelly holds closest to his heart, plus his honorable mention as one of the best midfielders for the Under-23 Olympic qualifiers in 2003, he was confined to a reserve role at the senior level to which no satisfactory explanation has been given.
“Honestly it bothers me because I still ask the question to myself. I even wonder if I disrespected anybody in anyway or di
Former player in the Reggae Boyz youth system, Keith Kelly, is holding firm to the adage: “It’s not how many times you fall, it’s how many times you get back up,” and has latched on to it as his mantra to propel himself back into the level of success he enjoyed at the top of his game.
“Now I am basically starting all over again and coming back to Harbour View is a step in the right direction for me,” Kelly told Sunday Herald.
Now signed to current Wray and Nephew National Premier League leaders and former champions Harbour View Football Club, Kelly is remaining positive, hoping to wipe the slate clean and reinvent what was once a bright future.
Kelly, who played from 1998 – 2003 (Under- 17, Under-20, Under-23), arguably Jamaica’s most promising football period, is living with the harsh reality of grave disappointment, following several short unfulfilled club stints and a battle with injuries.
A fall into obscurity following his exploits at the youth level and a call to one of Europe’s most prestigious football clubs (French League 1) – Paris Saint Germain at the tender age of 17, left devoted Reggae Boyz supporters pondering if he is yet another Reggae Boy who promised so much, but somehow fell through the cracks.
The central midfielder first impressed during his rise through the Harbour View Football Club youth system with a regal 1998 Manning Cup for Wolmer’s High. Then, he was a general in the midfield both in play and gesture, personifying the “salute” along the way to a memorable season.
He then followed up with an impressive Under-17 World Cup qualifying and tournament, which resulted in PSG scouts yielding to temptation. At that time, Ricardo ‘Bibbi’ Gardner’s Bolton Wanderers (English Premier League) call up, was the only precedence.
But a two-year stint at the former French league champion’s world-class academy, where he once played alongside the likes of Ronaldinho, Jay Jay Okocha, Nicolas Anelka, Obikwelu, Mendi and more, didn’t bear as much fruit as expected. A short loan stint to Belgian club RAEC Mons followed, then a return to the Caribbean where some bidding (clubs) squabbles and stifling injuries ensued.
Injuries
First an arthroscopic knee surgery in 2005 hampered his stint with the ‘Junglists’ – Arnett Gardens FC, followed shortly by a dislocated fibula, suffered while playing for Trinidadian club San Juan Jabloteh. The former Port Royal FC midfielder is still feeling the ill-effects of that injury to this day.
He is constantly reminded of the devastating injury by the four screws that hold the small bones together in his foot that was broken in three places.
Kelly, whose motivation has wavered in the past, will have to muster up as much as he can as a long, narrow road awaits him. The bulky Kelly awaits results from an X-ray due March 26, which will shed some light on whether he should go back under the knife. However, regardless of the outcome, his latest injury will force him to sit out the rest of the local season.
Unfulfilled run
An almost two-year injury lay-off, coupled with the recent unfortunate death of former new-found confidant Courtney Livingston, an Arnett Gardens FC official, which at the time added grief to injury, is hard to face. But Kelly still pinpoints his obscurity at the senior level as the most bothersome.
The injuries are extremely frustrating and confusing but I believe that I deserved a better shot considering the experience I gained overseas,” he assessed.
Despite his overseas exposure, his central role in leading Jamaica to both the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups, which Kelly holds closest to his heart, plus his honorable mention as one of the best midfielders for the Under-23 Olympic qualifiers in 2003, he was confined to a reserve role at the senior level to which no satisfactory explanation has been given.
“Honestly it bothers me because I still ask the question to myself. I even wonder if I disrespected anybody in anyway or di
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