FROM RAGING WITH REVENGE
TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE
The footballing journey of national striker Shamar Nicholson has taken him from Trench Town to the Reggae Boyz and then to Europe, where he is currently playing for Belgian club Charleroi FC. But before his ascendancy to international prominence, he skilfully weaved his way through the ranks of his boyhood club, Boys’ Town FC.
Though he played for Trench Town High School, it was the Boys’ Town club’s youth system where he honed his skills, impressing coaches with his goalscoring ability. At the time a National Premier League club, then coach Andrew Price believed that his talent warranted his promotion to the first team at 17.
“Once he matriculated to the Under-20s as a 17-year-old, I saw the talent that he had and I decided to bring him into the National Premier
League team, and I’m a coach that believes once you have the requisite skills and talent, no matter the age I’m willing to put you out there, and I think that has really aided and assisted his development,” Price told
STAR Sports.
But Price knows that Nicholson’s path could have taken a different and darker turn. Nicholson lost his father, Wayne, to gun violence in 2014, and thoughts of football were replaced by grief, anger, vengeance. However, it was during that difficult period that Price implored Nicholson to use sport not just to heal but to make a better life for himself.
“I told him that one of the things that would help him overcome the death of his father was to go out there and use football as a tool to overcome and better himself,” Price said. “He took the bull by the horns. We were talking about it three weeks ago and he said if it wasn’t for football he wouldn’t be where he is.” In 2017 he would make his international debut in a friendly against the United States. That same year he would depart for Slovenia, to NK Domzale, where he would spend two years and go on to have a 201819 campaign, scoring 13 goals in 23 appearances. But he would announce himself on the international stage in 2019, scoring a long-range blast to secure Jamaica’s first away win against the United States. It wasn’t long before Charleroi and Belgium came calling for his services at the end of that summer.
He is now a staple in the national team and has made an impression in the two years he has been in Belgium. He scored eight goals and registered one assist in his debut season, and in his sophomore year, he already has seven league goals and four assists, almost equalling last season’s tally. Price said that he is pleased with how he has progressed so far in his young career, but more so how he has become a role model for his community.
“A lot of children in Trench Town now look up to Shamar because they know that with hard work and perseverance, they can also achieve [what] he has achieved,” Price said.