Carole Kelly, who has been playing football for over 20 years, is still regarded as a top goalkeeper in Jamaica’s Women’s Premier League (JWPL), crediting her success to hard work, collaboration, and efficient communication on the pitch.

Kelly, who is the starting goalkeeper for the Arnett Gardens women’s team, has played for multiple teams, including Harbour View, Portmore Strikers, and Barbican, winning championships and leading her teams to national prominence.

“Every side I go to in Jamaica, I’m the number one goalkeeper,” she told the Jamaica Observer. “I have won a lot of championships in football. At my age, I am still fit, and I believe I am going to play until I say when. I am 42 years old now, and I am one of the fittest players now playing in the league.

“I have a lot of experience, and now I’m the leading goalkeeper in the JWPL. I’ve played about six games so far, and it’s only two goals that have been scored on me and that was in one match. Cavalier beat us 0-2, but we went in the knockout round, and we beat them 3-1.”

Despite taking a brief hiatus due to pregnancy in 2004, Kelly returned to the field stronger, determined to continue her football career.

“I was the first goalkeeper for Harbour View,” she said. “I moved from Harbour View and went to Portmore Strikers, where I won the championship with them, the knockout and league title. I got pregnant in 2004, so I was out of the sport.

“I came back in after I have my first daughter; she’s 19 years old now. I came back in, and I believe I went to the finals again with Portmore Strikers. I moved on from there, and I played for Barbican for one season in 2013, where I won both titles again.

“I went back to Portmore Strikers, where I spent most of my time. When I left Portmore Strikers, the team ‘mashed up’, and I said I wanted to still continue my football because my child kind of pushed me back. I went back in, and that’s when I started playing for Arnett Gardens, and this is my third season at the club.”

Despite Kelly’s extensive career in football, her dream of playing for the national women’s football team remains unfulfilled, partly due to her pregnancy pause. However, she still remains hopeful of walking down that road.

“I don’t know if it was that I was pregnant with my daughter, which kind of slowed me up because the opportunity was gone,” she said. “I just looked and said that I would come back on my feet. Miss Elaine Walker-Brown, who is one of my favourite sports ladies, always told me to look forward.

“When they had a championship play-off over in Duhaney Park, she called me, and at that time I was in school. I was about 18 years old when she called me, but I did end up leaving to go overseas on rugby duties. Yes, I also play rugby for Jamaica.

“I just never got in [the national football team], but I know in myself I’m a good keeper. I am fit, healthy, and I work hard. Success only comes with hard work. If I get called now, that would be lovely. That would be lovely for me because I’m fit.”

Kelly shared her journey in sports beyond football, highlighting her rugby career, where she won a championship in Trinidad and Tobago as well as the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Guyana, and her academic pursuits at GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport for more specialised training.

“I have been playing rugby since I was like 16 years old,” she said. “That’s some 26 years, and I leave from time to time to go overseas to compete. I went to Trinidad, where I played for a club over there, and I won the championship. When I got back to Jamaica, they didn’t have any football and so I went to GC Foster College where I got clean sheets. I also got called to go to the CAC Games, and I went to the CAC Games, and I won the championship over there in Guyana as well.”

Kelly also talked about her family, including her three children, and how she manages her sports career while being a mother. Her eldest daughter, Collette Thompson, has shown promise in track and field, and she says her other children are excelling in their academic and personal lives.

Despite the challenges of balancing professional sports and family, Kelly finds joy in her career and emphasises the importance of time management, support systems, and staying healthy and focused.

“My big daughter was at Hydel and was on the track team,” she said. “My next daughter [Kadine Markland] is a top student at Excelsior; she’s 15; and my little son [Dwight Morris] is four.

“I just leave them at the daycare, and I have somebody to pick them up sometimes because they have kids and family that go there. So they just pick them up for me. But most times, it’s in sports and less time with the kids because when we’re gone overseas, all four or five months, I play for clubs; I don’t really spend time with them like that. And so when I get the time, I spend it with them.”