HOME SWEET HOME - White happy to be back at Cavalier

Cavalier’s out-of-favour national goalkeeper, Jeadine White, is relieved to be back at the club after spending a year at Humble Lion in Clarendon.

“I am very happy to be back home (at Cavalier). I am always comfortable here, and my best self has always been for Cavalier, so I am happy to be back and happy to bring something that was probably needed,” White said.

White, the standout schoolboy goalkeeper in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, was Cavalier’s number one when he pushed for a move to Clarendon last January.

However, the transfer did not work out for the former St Andrew Technical goalkeeper, who eventually got frustrated, after falling down the pecking order. He eventually lost his position as the national team’s third-string custodian.

White hopes that his return to Cavalier will reignite his career, and after just two games between the stick, he believes things are beginning to fall back into place.

Although not willing to go too much into details about his time in Clarendon, White said it was an extremely difficult and stressful experience and that returning to Cavalier had become his main priority.

“At Humble Lion, it was really hard to adapt after being at a club where it was mostly youths. When you go to a club with mainly veteran players, it’s really hard to keep pace. Plus, I never had the right frame of mind because most of the time my mind, was still on Cavalier,” White shared.

“But during that rough period, I got injured, and my grandfather passed away. So I was really going through a tough time mentally, as not playing and losing my loved one was devastating.”

He also has his sights set on regaining his place in the national team for the World Cup qualifiers, which begin in September.

Getting back on track

“I think I am on track to getting back to my best. There are things I need to sharpen up on and it’s really annoying me, but I want to fix it very early because I want to represent my country. I really miss the opportunity (playing international football), so I would really like to get a World Cup qualifiers call-up. That is what I am aiming for this year, to get back into the national team,” White added.

On Sunday, White was quite impressive as Chevonne Marsh netted a brace and Dwayne Atkinson added another in Cavalier’s 3-0 win over UWI at the Mona Bowl.

The ‘shot stopper’ pulled off a brilliant double save late in the match to secure the clean sheet, his first since his return, after conceding one goal in his previous game for Cavalier.

Meanwhile, Cavalier coach Rudolph Speid admitted that he had his doubts when resigning the player, but said he is happy to have the player back in his ranks.

“He’s at home. This is where he was made. We are very happy he is back. He kept in two difficult matches for us and came through both times with brilliant saves. He is quality and that is why we wanted to get him back, there is no better ‘keeper’ than him in the league,” Speid declared.