National women’s football goalkeeper Emily Kelly (C), on her return to the Island from the United States, is greeted by national women’s coach Bobby McLaren (L) and Minister of Sports Hon Mark Scotland (R). (Photo by Mwangi Ngamate)

By Beverly Melbourne

Cayman Islands number one National Girls Under 17 football goal keeper Emily Kelly stands tall in the lineup for the playoffs between the Cayman Islands and the Dominican Republic for a place in the next stage of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) World Cup Qualifiers scheduled to be played in December.

Fifteen-year-old Kelly, who is a student of Kimball Union Academy, a private Prep School in New Hampshire, in the United States, arrived on the island last Friday evening to join the rest of the team to continue in their preparations for this next event.

She was met at the airport by Minister of Sports the Honorable Mark Scotland, representatives from the Cayman Islands Football Association, her coaches, her teammates, family members and friends.

Kelly, who is also the top goal keeper for her club team, Women United, represented the Cayman Islands in Haiti during the CFU tournament held in that country recently and was voted most valuable player of the tournament.

Kelly during that time performed immaculately, conceding only two goals and helped her team to beat the Bahamas 2-1 and the British Virgin Islands 13-0, only to be edged out 1-0 by the eventual group winners and hosts Haiti in their encounter on the last day of the tournament in the Sylvio Cator Stadium in Port-au-Prince before a crowd of over twenty thousand spectators.

According to Head Coach Bobby McLaren, Kelly’s position with the team during the next phase of this tournament is of great significance.

“Her role now and in going forward is extremely vital within the team not only as a goalkeeper, but as a positive and reassuring influence to her peers to enhance their overall confidence and performance as a team.”

“The Cayman Islands should be grateful that they have been blessed with a goal keeper of this caliber who is one of the best in the Caribbean. Emily has always been a determining factor in the success of Women’s football on the Cayman Islands. Basically, the National Under-17 team without Emily Kelly is good, but with her it is awesome.”

Her teammates have tremendous confidence in her and this aspect of the tournament is crucial as the Cayman Islands has to get past the Dominican Republic to get to the next phase set to be staged in Costa Rica next year,” McLaren declared.

Meanwhile, Kelly in response to questions as to how she felt in Haiti during the tournament said, “I was happy to see how my team stepped up to the pace and performed so exceptionally while coping with the crowd of spectators in Haiti, knowing that we are not accustomed to playing before so many people. The people there were awesome and it was a great experience to see how other people support football with all their hearts in a foreign country.”

“This phase of the tournament is behind us now, we just have to regroup and train hard to face the Dominican Republic team; get past them and go on from there. My teammates are like my sisters; we have been playing together for a while now and we have bonded. We get a lot of support from our coaches, our families and fans. This has motivated us to work harder together to become a great team to reckon with. We are determined and ready to continue to make our country proud,” Kelly commented.

Kelly, with the assistance of goalkeeper Coach Paul Campbell, her outstanding performances as a goalkeeper and her excellent grades at St Ignatius High School received a scholarship valued at $43,000 to attend Kimball Union Academy, a private Prep School in New Hampshire.