There are no age limits on dreams and for some, the desire to feverishly pursue a personal goal can begin at a tender age. For one 11-year-old lad of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, this Christmas season is a chance to get his hands on tools that can push the pursuit of his goals to new heights.
“Everybody got to begin them dreams, let them do what they dreams tell them to do,” Clive “Edu” Jacobs told Guyana Times Sport in an exclusive sit-down.
The budding goalkeeper is a Grade Six student of St Pius Primary and hopes to one day man the nets for Guyana’s senior men’s national team, the Golden Jaguars.
Clive “Edu” Jacobs
The first glimpse of that dream came just months ago when Jacobs, along with his teammates at St Pius, clinched the Petra-organised Under-11 football title.
Now, instead of the regular toy cars that most boys his age would want to see under the Christmas tree, Edu is hoping his gifts can tie in to, and help him boost his football.
How the dream started
“I see my cousin, my uncle and all of them playing football and I ask them if I could play and they said ‘yeah, they gon let I play’. And I start going on. Next I go to a club, then I went to a next club, and stick with Fruta Conquerors,” Edu told this publication when quizzed about how he got into the sport of football.
Initially, the stubby young man began playing in the defensive positions, but soon enough, his love for guarding the nets developed.
Edu going through his paces
“Not really, youse get injure and them things,” he said in explaining why he did not spend too much time playing defence.
He added: “I just wanted to” be a goalkeeper.
While the pre-teen started plying his trade at a club in his community, his desire to reach to higher heights resulted in him being introduced to the Coach of Fruta Conquerors Football Club, Sampson “Boniah” Gilbert.
He divulged, “Me friend, Ayesha, she invite me to go to Boniah and then afterwards, I start going all the time.”
Learning his craft
By now, one might realise that the youngster, who resides in East Ruimveldt, would have to travel all the way to Tucville, on the opposing side of Mandela Avenue to train. On afternoons, after returning home from school, Edu would get his gear from home and make the anticipated walk over to Tucville.
Though some might see it as a long trek for the 11-year-old, he doesn’t mind, since it gives him the opportunity to master the art of handling the ball in a kick-dominated sport.
“The walking is really reasonable. Tired sometimes, but I just push myself to go,” Edu related.
He added with a wandering smile, “‘Cause I love playing football and I enjoy it.”
Goalkeeping can sometimes be seen as one of the hard jobs on the pitch, but Jacobs doesn’t view it that way; in fact, for him, it comes easily.
“The training is really reasonable, but everybody thinking it hard, hard. It really a little easy, easy.”
However, the job does come with its ups and downs; occurrences that he accepts and learns from.
Describing one time this year when he was beaten by a shot and felt disappointment, Edu shared, “This year I went to the goal post and I see the ball cross me and I look at the ball and the ball roll and go over me top.”
Nonetheless, steady encouragement is something the lad thrives on.
“Coach man is always telling me, don’t bother with that, next time we gon get them,” a relaxed “Edu” recounted.
“Short Man” the Keeper
If lined up next to his peers, the one thing that would stand out about Edu is his height; a fact that may make the youngster appear to be an easy target in the nets.
“Too short to be a goalkeeper” are words that he has heard time and time again, but the lad is no longer bothered by what others have to say about his abilities.
“Is not about what people saying, is about what your mind go to. Nuff people, but I just keep me mouth shut and leave them,” Edu shared about persons who often tell him he’s ‘too short’ to be a keeper.
And of course, there are times when it doesn’t work in his favour. For instance, when Jacobs competed at last year’s U11 tournament in the final, the winning shot soared over his head, when his line of sight was being blocked by another player.
Discussing how that loss impacted him, Jacobs shared, “I was feeling sad all the time. Coach man tell we, we will come back next year and win the tournament.”
“He keep telling we, we will make it and then all of we were studying in our minds and that’s how we come back and win,” the youngster added.
This time, around, there was no stopping the St Pius team, even though they may have stumbled at the start of the tournament.
Edu is confident and committed in his training to ensure his team get over the line.
Talking about how confident he was that his team would win this title this time around, Edu said, “Yes. ‘Cause of how I was. I went home and study. Then I go and train, I keep training, training, training. That’s how I help win.”
“Everybody was glad, everybody went smiling, some people was crying. Everybody was glad they get something,” he said of his redemption moment, when St Pius won the tournament.
A keeper’s Christmas wish
By now, it must be evident what is on Edu’s Christmas wish list.
Eagerly responding to the question as though he has gone over it thousands of times, Edu said, “What I want for Christmas now, is a bicycle, a gloves and a new football boots.”
Last year, his goalkeeping gloves were stolen and since then, he has been using a pair that was loaned to him by his Coach.
“Because the gloves that I get right now, it loosing up,” Edu said about the rationale behind his Christmas gift choices. On the matter of the bicycle, he explained that it would make his travel to training much easier, since he could ride.
“It would mean a lot to me,” the youngster said in a more sombre tone.
Revisiting the topic of his dream, the 11-year-old passionately spoke about his plan as he aims to balance the National Grade Six Assessment and football over the next few months.
While Edu is not too eager to secure a spot at the top two schools in the country, he does want to do well enough to go to a good school.
Maintaining good grades is also a part of his plans, since it is the key to securing a football scholarship at his dream school Chase’s Academic Foundation.
Quizzed about why he would rather go to the private institution, Edu responded, “‘Cause they does play good football. I like how Chase does play.”
It seems the youngster has all the steps carefully planned out and it all starts with what he looks forward to seeing under the tree this morning.
“You got to work your way up. Sometimes, somebody buy you and you go to a better club. Sometimes, Boniah could carry you to a same national team. That’s my dream.”
Though just a dream, it can slowly become a reality…beginning this Christmas.
