FORMER Jamaica senior team goalkeeper Ryan Thompson says his exploits as a coach have deepened his love for football, a sport that has already given him loads of fulfilment.

“The same passion I’d bring when I was playing, I brought that to the coaching side. While I was doing that I realised I also love coaching because I could see the reward right there in front of me when kids started to learn and started to develop,” he told the Jamaica Observer via a telephone interview.

The United States-based Thompson, though retired as a national player, is a backup keeper at Austin Bold FC, a United Soccer League (USL) outfit in Texas.

But his major roles at Austin Bold are as first assistant to Head Coach Marcelo Serrano and as goalkeeper director.

Thompson, 35, has other jobs — developing players at Lonestar Soccer Club, which is a youth organisation, and operating his own RTG Academy.

“That [coaching] is actually more fulfilling than me making a save on the field, to be honest. The approach I took as a player is that I always want to learn and I took that same approach [to coaching],” added the former Camperdown High and Ardenne High schoolboy football standout.

Thompson said the relatively speedy transition into coaching was forced upon him when he was left out of Jamaica’s 2017 Concacaf Gold Cup squad, despite starring as a replacement for Dwayne Miller at the 2015 edition.

Thompson had entered the fray as a substitute in the last group-stage encounter versus El Salvador after Miller was injured in a collision with an opposing player. Jamaica won 1-0, and Thompson was given the opportunity to complete the rest of the tournament.

In the quarter-finals, the Reggae Boyz edged Caribbean neighbours Haiti 1-0 before stunning hosts United States 2-1 in the semis. They fought gamely in their first-ever Gold Cup final, but succumbed 1-3 to perennial winners Mexico.

“I decided I was going to walk away from the game when I learned that I was going to be left out of the national team in 2017…it kind of put things into perspective for me,” he said.

“I’m very grateful for what the game gave me, so walking away [as a national team player] — it’s not that I’ve given up — it’s just that I made a decision that I’ll take charge of my future,” said Thompson, who also played professionally at Shamrock Rovers FC in Ireland and AFC Eskilstuna in Sweden.

“You would work and do all these things and just like that, the game could be taken away from you. I didn’t want to keep doing it, and put my family through the pain of travelling and [me] not being around, so I decided to retire.

“I told myself I’m going to just dedicate to learning the coaching side of the game, and to really invest in coaching education. The first one was my goalkeeping licence. Then I started with my goalkeeping school — yes, I started with one kid, two kids, and then it started growing,” added Thompson, who at that time was based in Tampa, Florida.

He gained a B licence with the US Soccer Federation, giving him the power to operate in a professional environment.

His coaching stints at the college and lower-tier club levels in Florida earned him respect and caught the attention of Serrano, a former youth team assistant coach for his native Brazil as well as the United States.

That link opened the door to a number of opportunities, and eventually Thompson made the trek to Texas.

“The more I learn it’s the more I have to give to these kids, and the more I have to give to the people around me. With my personality…I have the ability to connect with people. He [Serrano] convinced me, so I moved to Austin last year. I left the academy with other coaches in Tampa, so they’re managing that leg, but I’ve continued here in Austin,” Thompson, a goalkeeper at local team Harbour View FC before moving abroad, told the Observer.

The former Reggae Boyz goalkeeper said his time in the USL, which is a level below the top-tier Major League Soccer, gives him the chance to function more like an elder statesman.

“I’m an insurance policy, so if they need me to play I will play. [But] they need me more as a mentor. The level of experience that I’ve acquired over the years has put me in a very unique spot because as a player, I’ve been through it all,” he explained.