Making the grade in Jamaica- Lesley St Fleur enjoys scoring start

 

 

SPORTING Central Academy's Bahamian recruit Lesly St Fleur is loving life in the National Premier League, even though the championship is only three games old. The new summer signing was impressive on his full debut against Village United a couple weekends ago, scoring the winner which gave Sporting their first victory of the season. He was also outstanding against Arnett Gardens on match-day three and is now looking forward to his first taste of action in the Clarendon derby against Humble Lion tomorrow at Effortville. "The players have been talking about it a lot since I came, so I'm looking forward to it," St Fleur said. "I just want to go out there, play hard and give it my best and hopefully we can come out with a victory." He's not overly excited about scoring his first goal in Jamaican football, but said it did help to make his transition into the league much easier. Perhaps, it's because it would totally contradict the reserved personality he portrays or maybe it's just because he knows that there's still a lot of work to be done if he's to "make a name" for himself in a foreign land. "Scoring my first goal was really a good feeling," he recalled. "It's a start, so hopefully there's more to come, but that's what I really wanted to get the momentum going and boost my confidence."

 

The Jamaican experience is not totally new to St Fleur. The pint-sized player was a member of the Bahamian national team that was thrashed 13-0 by the Reggae Boyz in their 2008 CONCACAF World Cup qualifier. He remembers little about the game, played over two legs in Jamaica, other than it was a one-sided affair and an acid test for him and his fellow teammates. "We went out there to give it our best because we are a young team, based around players from college," said St Fleur, who made his senior debut at age 15. "We were hoping to come away with a good result, but it never happened, so we are just trying to learn from the experience." But now that he has gained first-hand knowledge of how the game is played here, the 22-year-old reckons he can become a real success in the NPL. "I want to have a name out here," he declared. "I know it won't be easy because the competition is much better, but I think football everywhere is the same concept, it's just played differently, so once I put my mind to it I can be pretty good."

 

St Fleur is the first overseas player to don the colours of Sporting Central, and with every passing game, appears to be a natural fit for the slick-passing Clarendon side. "I'm still getting there," he said modestly. "I'm just trying to fit in some more with the team because I want to have some fun." Not only does he add more pace to an already speedy Sporting attack, but he also comes with a wealth of goalscoring experience at home and abroad -- a quality that the young Clarendon outfit lacks. The Nassau native is already the leading scorer for his country, the top goalscorer in the Bahamas FA Senior League and was also on target 10 times in 12 appearances for Canadian outfit Milltown FC, while on loan in 2010. He has no idea how long his stay with Sporting will last, but said he's hoping that at the end of his sojourn both parties would have benefited. "I want people to say I came from the Bahamas, did well with Sporting Central, reward them with something and they in return help to develop my game so that I can go somewhere else and further my career," he told the Observer in a recent interview at Sporting Central's club house. "Everything is going good so far," he added, "so I hope it will stay the same and we'll do our best because I think we have the potential to be a pretty good team. We just have to go out there and play each game like it's our last and we'll do pretty good in the league."

 

Vassell Reynolds, new coach at Sporting, certainly thinks St Fleur has the attributes needed to help the team better their previous performances in the Premier League. "He's very discipline, which is what a coach always wants to deal it," Reynolds said. "He has lightning pace, kicks with both feet and is very composed in front of goal." "He's a player who comes to us scoring a lot of goals overseas and that's the area which has always been our major concern, so hopefully he will help the team to solve that problem. "He scored his first goal against Village, which gave us three points, and I think that has done lot for his confidence," Reynolds added. In Bahamas, the expectation is that St Fleur's move to Sporting will open the door for more of the country's young talents to ply their trade in countries with a more advanced football culture — ultimately helping to improve their national team, currently ranked 152nd by football's world governing body, FIFA. "Football in Bahamas is not big, but over here it's much better," said Fleur, who is only the second Bahamian player to play overseas. The other is his former IM Bears teammate Cameron Hepple, who now plays for Albanian side KF Tirana.

 

Story from The Jamaica Observer