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published: Sunday | August 5, 2007
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Keith Kelly (right) in action for Arnett Gardens in the National Premier League in early 2005. At left is Tafari O'Connor of Constant Spring.
Nodley Wright, Gleaner [COLOR=black! important][COLOR=black! important]Writer[/COLOR][/COLOR]
In 2000 at the age of 17, Keith Kelly represented the promise of a newgeneration of [COLOR=black! important][COLOR=black! important]Jamaica[/COLOR][/COLOR] footballers. Already Jamaica had seen stars such as Lindy Delapenha, Syd Bartlett, Allan Cole, John Barnes and more recently Theodore Whitmore and Walter Boyd with Ricardo Gardner poised for takeoff.
After a belated call to the country's Under-17 squad, he played a key role in their historic qualification for the 1999 World Youth Cup finals in [COLOR=black! important][COLOR=black! important]New [COLOR=black! important]Zealand[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]. A year later he was snapped up on a youth contract by famed French club Paris saint-Germain while representing Jamaica's Olympic Team (Under-23s) in [COLOR=black! important][COLOR=black! important]Mexico[/COLOR][/COLOR]. He was breaking new ground and with the likes of Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha, Peter Luccin and Stephane Dalmat around he was expected to soak up the knowledge and progress.
Seven years later at 24 years of age, the Port Royal native is preparing to make a comeback with his first organised game in almost two years.
"I am going to play in my first game against August Town at the UWI tomorrow," an upbeat-sounding Kelly told The Gleaner yesterday.
The joy discerned in Kelly's voice is understandable as it represents for him a major step on his way back up the football ladder. Many Jamaican football fans wondered if he had disappeared from the game and bemoaned what they thought to be another brilliant potential not being fulfilled.
Viewed as player in waiting to take over the central midfield position for the national team which has struggled to find someone with the composure, tactical awareness, toughness and the ability to pass, something Jamaica lacked since the departure of the late Peter Cargill, Kelly sought a change in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
"I went to San Juan Jabloteh in Trinidad on loan in September 2005 for the possibility of exposure. The club has great interest in me and the possibility was there that I could be seen by other teams coming to the country and the coach at the time was an Englishman so he had contacts in Europe. I had started well but two months later I was injured," said the former Hydel Group of Schools and Wolmer's schoolboy.
Unable to retake the field
That injury kept him out of the game far longer than it was supposed to and even after it was healed he still suffered pain and was unable to retake the field.
He got renewed hope in March when he had another surgery on the ankle to 'release' the tendons. Since then he has been working even harder to get back.
"Since the last surgery I have been doing a lot of rehabilitation. I saw a specialist recently and I was told that I should continue my stretching exercises and continue with the programme that I have been put on by team physiotherapist Karen Julius," said Kelly who is back at his original local club Harbour View, following a stint at Arnett Gardens.
"I should see the specialist again in another five weeks but right now I am continuing with the work. In addition to Julius, coach Andrew Hines supervises my ball work, trampoline work, steps, and abdominal exercises," said Kelly.
Kelly, who always had a stocky build, put on the pounds during his inactivity. Under the watch of Julius and Hines he has been steadily melting the pounds away.
"I have lost 15 pounds and I have another 20 to go and I am confident of getting down to the weight that I should be at," explained Kelly who rejoined Harbour View at the start of the year.
Kelly knows that he is miles away from where he imagined himself to be at this age but remains confident that it will happen. His approach, he said, is to take it one step at a time.
"Right now my aim is to get back to the level of football that I used to play. If I do that then the national squad should not be far out of my reach," perhaps bearing in mind the dearth of talent locally and the failure of anyone to emerge and fill the gaping hole in the country's central midfield. "Once I achieve that I believe that other doors will reopen," he said confidently.
Not always there
But that confidence poring out of Kelly right now as not always there.
"There were times when I felt really low because people who did not knowwhat happened and what I was going through would pass their remarks. Some would say I left PSG or Mons to come to Arnett Gardens to get injured but it is not so.
"My leaving Mons and coming back to Jamaica is a complicated issue and one that I really do not want to go into any details right now but the long and short of it is that I had stayed too long in Jamaica and PSG which had loaned me to Mons that that I was not coming back but it was not really my fault though," said Kelly who was the centre of a tug-of-war between Harbour View and Arnett Gardens for his services at the start of the 2003-2004 season, on his return to Jamaica.
Even after that Kelly could have gone back to Belgium as according to him his former coach at Mons had called and wanted him to return. As luck would have it, the coach move and that opportunity went with him.
"They had a change of coach at Mons. The previous one who wanted me to come back, left, so that fell through," he explained.
While sitting on the sidelines Kelly found it difficult to remain upbeat but tried to lift himself with positive thoughts, the support of friends and family, the example of determination shown by others in similar situations.
"Among the things that I do is that I try to use the example of other players who have been through similarly trying times with injury to inspire myself. At my own club Harbour View, Fabian Taylor had a similar ankle injury and he came back with a bang last season," said the man who stood out for his country at both the Under-17 and Under-20 world cups in 1999 and 2001 respectively.
"There have been others like my good friend Damani Ralph who has had his troubles with a knee injury but he has not given up, he is still fighting. There is also Ricardo 'Bibi' Gardner who has had a number of injuries and surgeries and he still keeps coming back. Internationally there is someone like Ruud van Nistelrooy who had a very bad knee injury and came back even better. Michael Owen had has his troubles too and is back. With examples like those I cannot be anything but positive about my chances. I have to keep believing and working hard," he said in a convincing voice.
With the strides made by his contemporaries such as Michael Essien, Javier Saviola, Adres D'allesandro, Damarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan, Kelly could be forgiven if he was a little bit bitter but he is far from that.
"No sir, I would not be. Whatever happened, happened and it is a part of life that I had no control over so what I will have to do is to keep thinking positively, working hard and praying that I get back there," was how he looked at it.
If he continues believing and working hard then he will be well on his way.
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