Kevin Beaton on scholarship at USA College

Jul 12, 2015 Sports

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“Players must be willing to work with GFF for Football to progress” says National forward

By Sean Devers

At 24, Kevin Orlando Emmanuel Beaton, who hails from the mining Town of Linden, has been living in Queens, New York in the United States of America (USA) for the last six years but since making his senior team debut in 2008 he has played three Internationals and four Friendly games for Guyana.
A member of the Golden Jaguars Football team which failed to advance to the second round of the World Cup qualifiers after being knocked out by St Vincent, Beaton is currently in the last year of a two-year scholarship at the Bryant & Strahton College in the USA where he not only is developing his Football talent, but also doing an associate degree in Networking Technology.
Beaton, who plays as a forward and an attacking right midfielder and is the proprietor of the Empire Hair and Nail Saloon in Linden, told Kaieteur Sport that he was departing for North America at the end of August since the pre-season preparations is scheduled to commence on August 30.
He was born on May 17, 1991 to Howard Beaton, who lives in the States and Clowreen Bobb, who resides in Antigua and has two sisters, Towana Morris and Seatham Daniels.
With four youth goals for Guyana, a team he has played for at under-13, 15, 17 & 19 levels, and although his brace in a 5-0 win against Trinidad & Tobago in the Digicel Caribbean Cup Football in August 2011 in New York was one of his better showings for Guyana, Beaton’s most memorable game was an under-17 encounter in 2004.
“Most memorable match is against Trinidad and Tobago in an under-17 tournament in Trinidad, even though we lost the game it was a complete team effort, the team had a great fighting spirit.
It was the first time playing under Jamal Shabazz as the Technical Director of Guyana and Coach Collie Hercules. Alwyn Adams, the Captain was and still is a great friend of mine,” Beaton remembered.
His four Friendly matches for Guyana were in September 2008 against Antigua, December 2010 against Guatemala, August 2011 against India and April this year against Suriname. The skilful Forward also represented club side Brooklyn Italians in 2010 in the USA.
Beaton disclosed that his biggest challenge is finding enough time to train as he would like to since he also has to focus on his academics which entails lots of projects. Sharief Joseph, who played in the USA Major League Soccer (MLS), attended the same college.
“My aim is to get as much out of this scholarship as I possibly can. I want to enter the MLS, get in the draft and get a contract. I also aim to get my associate degree in Networking Technology. I got the opportunity to come here and do this, which will give me and an education and at the same time help to improve my football skills which I would never been able to do if I had remained in Guyana,” the well spoken Beaton explained.

“The standard of Football in the US is much better than in the Caribbean and especially Guyana due to the better facilities, training programmes and venues there. In Guyana we don’t have those types of facilities and we depend on mainly natural talent for success. The players need to try to get overseas contracts since there are no talents scouts looking at the players here. Trinidad is not a bad place to go since a lot of football is played there unlike in Guyana where no football was played for two years when I returned,” Beaton, who played for T&T club Caledonia AIA in 2008, said.
“I think the future of Guyana’s football lies in the youths coming up but they have to put in the hard work. I think the GFF and (Normalization) the Committee they set up needs to do a lot more while the players must be willing to work with the GFF if Football is to move forward here,” Beaton opined.
While some in the football fraternity feel that it is time for Head Coach Trinidadian Jamaal Shabazz to go Beaton thinks he has done a good enough job in bringing Guyana’s football back from the dark days in the sport and one bad competition does not mean he is not a good Coach.
“Yes we lost out on advancing to the second round of the World Cup qualifiers but we should have beaten St Vincent and you can’t put all the blame on the Coach. I think he deserves another chance and I believe there is hope for Guyana’s Football if all parties involved in the sport play their role,” Beaton pointed out.
“Fans don’t like to lose but as players we understand what is needed to win and most of it start outside the grounds. We need more support from Cooperate Guyana and Government and more facilities for football needs to be put in place,” said Beaton, whose favorite player is Cristiano Ronaldo.
Beaton, who began at Metro FC, joined Bakewell Top XX FC about seven years ago and disclosed that his goal is to be drafted by the MLS next year and his one wish would be to play for Barcelona FC.
He revealed that he became interested in Football when he attended the Final of the Kashif & Shanghi Football tournament in Linden and saw his friends playing. “The next day I said to myself I wanted to do this and that’s how it all started” said Beaton, whose hobbies include Video Games, Sports and hanging with his friends.
The talented young man thanked his parents (who are both Guyanese), his sisters and his girlfriend Tamika McKenzie for their support. The Linden businessman said it was his friend Marlon Benjamin, the former National Midfielder, who introduced him to the Metro FC, while he thanked Guyana Footballer Clive Nobrega, who played for Metro and ‘Sir Fraser’ his Coach for playing a huge role in his early days as a footballer. He added that Garth Nelson, another overseas Guyana player, always looked out for him.
Kevin Beaton knows what he wants and has a plan how to get it with hard work, all he needs now is the right opportunity and some luck.

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