I was born and raised on the island of Jamaica. I attended a Adventist preparatory school and was only involved in track and field because that was the only sport the school was involved in. After graduating prep school and staring high school in the seventh grade, I decided to try out for the football (soccer) team. I never had cleats at the time and the tryouts proved how bad I was at the sport. In Jamaica it is a norm for everyone to play football whether one is good or not. I usually play several times a week with my friends and family but i never got the experience I had needed if I was to play for my high school team.

After the tryout in the seventh grade I just continued to play football recreationally. In the ninth grade I made a late decision to try out once more. Despite being a bit better than before and now having cleats the end result was the same. I did not really expect much considering that my time was not spent perfecting my football skills.

For a long while I was expecting the opportunity to travel to America, and I told myself that if I did get the chance to come I would try my best to make the Soccer (Football) team at whichever high school I would attend. In September 2012, …show more content…
Now it was time for tryouts to begin. On the first night of tryouts everyone had to run 2 miles. Those who wished to possibly participate in Varsity would have to run under 15:15 mins, while those who are illegible for JV just I had to do their best. Prior to this, I had never ran 2 miles before in under 15 minutes. When we had done a 2 mile (8 laps around the field) test run a couple days before, I had not completed the run (I did 6 laps). On the Sunday before the tryout I woke early and went over to a nearby school to this time finish two miles. It was very cold then and so I was wearing a jacket while running. After every lap or two I would rest for about 2 minutes. I was not proud of this but at least I finished the 2