PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Andre Lewis has only just begun his career as a professional athlete, but already the Spanish Town native has had to deal with the fickle nature of sports, in general, and the life of a professional athlete, in particular.

Lewis, who celebrated his 21st birthday last Wednesday, recently returned to the playing field after sitting out almost a year recovering from a torn ACL in his right knee.

“The rehabilitation was really good,” Lewis told the Jamaica Observer here in Haiti on Saturday. “I spent a lot of time, which was boring, going to rehab and without seeing the ball for months; but yeah, I would say it was successful because where I am now, I think I’m like 90 per cent there getting stronger and fitter than before,” he added.

The former St George’s College Manning Cup standout suffered the injury last year July while representing Charleston Battery on loan from his Vancouver Whitecaps MLS outfit in an exhibition game.

He returned to the football pitch in June and has since played in eight games in the second tier USL, scoring three goals and providing two assists playing in the attacking midfield role (number 10), as well as being employed as a outside right player.

The player, who scored against France at the 2011 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico, revealed that his playing time was ordered restricted by his club for the Under-23 team in the previous Caribbean Football Union Olympic Qualifying round in the Dominican Republic, where Jamaica defeated St Lucia 6-1 and the hosts 4-1.

Lewis got his break in January 2014 when his agent, former Reggae Boy Damani Ralph, secured a place for him in the 2014 SuperDraft, popularly called the ‘MLS Combine’. Where he was drafted number seven by the Whitecaps, who lent the player listed at 5’9″ and weighing 145lbs to gain playing time in an effort to develop his game.

But though the injury has stymied his progress, the creative midfielder believes that he has learnt so much over the period, both on and off the pitch, that has improved “60 to 70 per cent”.

“It’s a whole different level so far. From what I have seen, I realise that football is a business and it is everyone’s life and not just enjoyment any more. It’s like, yeah, you enjoy it, but it’s now your job and this is how everyone takes care of his family.

“You have to come to practice every day and be fighting for a spot. It’s not go there like a Manning Cup practice and just play for enjoyment and know that you have a game today and if you are not in it is okay, because you know that you are in school next year you will be in. What I’ve learnt now is that if you are not in the team now, you have to work hard for that because you are not guaranteed next year you will have a contract. So you have to live every day as if it’s your last day on the pitch and you have to give everything on the pitch,” he explained.

He added: “It has helped me a lot, what I have learnt there and how to transition, because normally when I have a game I would listen to music, but sometimes I think it takes mental preparedness by staying by yourself to sit and focus on the game and you don’t just focus on the game, on that day, but maybe two or three days before. “

“Sometimes the team will send you clips of the team you are playing against or a particular player you might be playing directly against, how you can break that player down etc, so it’s a whole different setting how I prepare for games,” Lewis said.

Lewis, who helped St George’s College to secure back-to-back Manning Cup and Olivier Shield titles in 2011 and 2012, further stated that the organisation in the professional setting was much better, and the pace of the game much faster than what he was accustomed to back home.

“It’s really hard when you just get in and it takes time to adjust regardless of your ability and talent it takes hard work and dedication just to get into the work, just the fitness and the speed of the game. The decisions you make on the pitch, that takes a while to adjust to also, and sometimes you have to make the simple decisions instead of taking risks, and that is a major difference between playing there and like coming up through Manning Cup.

“Here (at home) you tend to take risks, but there [when] you take risks, sometimes you get punished playing against better players than you do here,’ he noted, while adding that the knowledge of the game plays a very important role in a player’s overall development and progress.

Lewis, popularly called ‘LA Lewis’, earned his first call-up to the senior Reggae Boyz squad in 2012, but never managed to get onto the pitch. He was hoping to help guide the Under-23 team to the CONCACAF Final Round of Olympic Qualifying, but was unable to prevent his team from going down 1-2 to Cuba on Friday at the Stade Sylvio Cator here in Port-au-Prince.

That might have been the end of the road for the Jamaican Under-23s, but Lewis is hoping that it marks the beginning of his resurgence to the top flight.