ST THOMAS, US Virgin Islands — Not long from now Raewin Senior will have to make what could be a life-changing decision.

The gifted sportsman is split between his passion for football and cricket — equally, as he puts it.

At 16 years old, Senior is a Jamaica representative at cricket and football, and he even donned the maroon of the West Indies at the Under-15 level when the regional team toured England last year.

To his further credit, the Excelsior High School student is now in the US Virgin Islands with Jamaica’s Under-17 Reggae Boyz, feeding another of his loves, flying the flag of his beloved country on another front.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer yesterday, the cricket all-rounder and the striker on football’s frontline says his ultimate direction will not be determined on a whim.

“I think my choice will be based on the opportunities that present themselves in each of the sports,” he said.

Though representing his country at more than one sport is not unique in itself, Senior joins an elite group of sportsmen who have the rare distinction. And he says nurturing both talents started as a young boy.

“From I was younger, I was really pushed to balance both until I developed a passion for them, in the sense that I devote equal time to them. As a result, I find myself playing both of them at a high level at a young age,” he said.

Senior says his drive to excel in whatever he does is part of the reason he is able to make his mark on both sports.

“I think I give all things I do my best but having said that, I have siblings who play sports as one of my brothers, Ramon Senior, played cricket at all youth levels for Jamaica and the West Indies and my other brother, Rasean Senior, is in the US playing football, so it’s (sport) really in my background (sports), but it also involves hard work,” he noted.

With Jamaica’s Under-17 cricketers currently in Trinidad and Tobago participating in a regional tournament, Senior tells why he chose football over cricket this time around.

“Having seen that I have the experience of playing in the cricket competition last year, I thought this new opportunity with the football team would be good for me,” he explained.

Senior, who is a well-respected all-rounder, reiterated that cricket is dear to his heart and he spoke glowingly of time spent with the West Indies Under-15 players.

“It was a good experience playing for the West Indies and it was a learning curve for me… we went to England where the conditions were different from the Caribbean and it took some adjusting, and I also learnt a lot about my game,” he said.

Senior says his love for cricket, as with football, is unconditional and he will take up the bat in any version.

“I think there is a place for T20 in modern cricket as a lot of people who are not genuine lovers of cricket and would not want to watch a four-day or a five-day match, but they would watch a T20 game… I really don’t have a favourite version, I just try to adapt to whichever,” he posited.

The former Hydel Preparatory student, who scored two goals in Jamaica’s opening 4-1 win over Guyana in the ongoing Caribbean Football Union here on Friday, said he was not satisfied with his overall performance in the contest.

“I am happy to have scored in the first game but overall, I think my performance could have been better as I was absent from the first part of the game; but I hope to do better for the remainder of the tournament.

“I have always been confident in this team as the talent base is high and we have come together as a unit now,” Senior stated.

If a career as an athlete does not work out for Senior, he has no intention of drifting far from the realms of sport.

“If sport does not work out for me, then I would want to be a sport psychologist, but whatever I do as a career outside of playing a sport, will have to have something to do with sport,” he said.

— Sean Williams