SHE DID IT HER WAY!
The recent Concacaf award — the Women’s Player of the Year — may have Khadija “Bunny” Shaw’s name printed all over it but the historic feat is being viewed as a victory for the women’s game at home and the wider Caribbean.
Shaw, 26, became the first non-North American to cop the prestigious award for her impact on the game in 2022 for club and country.
Reggae Girlz Assistant Coach Xavier Gilbert says while Shaw’s success is deservedly her own based on how calculated she has been in crafting her rise in the women’s game, her latest plaudit will undoubtedly be looked on as a point of inspiration for other young women desirous about scaling football’s glorious heights.
“This award means a lot for women’s football in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. A Caribbean woman winning this award for the first time goes to show the improvement the Caribbean has made and how competitive we have become with the top nations in Concacaf.
“Her success will no doubt inspire a lot of Jamaican girls, and even more girls across the wider Caribbean and Concacaf region in terms of what she has accomplished over the years,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday.
Gilbert, who also coaches successfully at the high school and club levels in Jamaica, says while football talent abounds on the island, Shaw remains special and worthy of emulation.
“There is still talent in Jamaica, but I don’t see another Bunny Shaw right now because her size, skill, tactical awareness, versatility and smarts, make her a special a player and these qualities in one person come once in a blue moon,” he stated.
A former national senior women’s coach, Andrew Price, also sees the Manchester City striker’s Concacaf recognition as a reference point for dreamers.
“Her success has shown every young Jamaican and Caribbean girl who wants to be inspired by Bunny’s success that it can be done with hard work and dedication.
“Of course, there are more Bunny Shaws in Jamaica as we are a country blessed with natural talent, all we need are opportunities to be provided for the talent we have here as many young girls can go the route of Bunny by getting a football scholarship, get a college degree and become a professional footballer,” he said.
Gilbert, like Price, says Shaw as a precocious teenager had forewarned that she was targeting the top even when it appeared difficult, impossible even.
“I have managed to work with Khadija at all levels, starting from she was about 13 or 14 years old, and her tenacity and dedication was evident from early, and she is the player that once she sets her sights on doing something, she gives it her all to ensure that she achieves it and that is something that I admire so much about her… she deserves every accolade that is bestowed upon her,” said Gilbert, a recognised shaper of young female talent in Jamaica.
Price, a member of the Hue Menzies-led coaching staff of the history-making France 2019 team, recalls the burning passion for success he saw in Shaw during his years of interacting with her.
“I saw the fire and desire in her eyes when we were in France at our historic World Cup qualification. When she signed her first professional contract in France for Bordeaux, she said this was just beginning as she knew where she was coming from and how hard she had to work to get there,” he noted.
Gilbert gave high mark to the all-time top goal-scorer for Jamaica for the well-thought-out and measured way she went about building a career.
“Her move across some of the big clubs across Europe was strategic as she understands what she has to do to make the necessary transition, as she went through the US college system and did well, and while most people would jump to the professional women’s league in North America, instead she moved to Europe and dominated their in France and then to Manchester City.
“She also set up herself for some good endorsement deals because she understands the business of sports, so she deserves everything that she is enjoying now as she not only works hard, but smart with everything she does,” he said.
Shaw’s early life growing up in tough inner-city Spanish Town was filled with tragedies, including losing a number of her brothers to gun violence. Although she was naturally affected by the losses, she persevered where others would have melted.
“Like every successful business person and athlete, there are challenges along the way, and people will see the end result and not the journey and Bunny has been through a lot in her life but that makes it all so special.
“She could have easily been distracted, but she continued to push as she knew what she wanted from early and this is one of the things I admire so much about her,” Gilbert ended.
Before her recent award, in 2018 Shaw was named The Guardian newspaper’s Footballer of the Year, setting in motion numerous consequent awards.
As part of her outstanding 2022 season for which she awarded, the talismanic striker led her leading the Reggae Girlz to a third-place finish at the Concacaf Women’s Championship in Mexico and with it, a second-consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification.
Shaw scored three goals, including the game-winning goal in the opening 1-0 win over Mexico and a brace in the 4-0 victory against Haiti, which sealed Jamaica’s ticket to the global showpiece in Australia and New Zealand this summer.
For her efforts, Shaw was named to the Concacaf Women’s Championship Best Eleven.
She was just as lethal in first phase of qualifiers, amassing nine goals with braces against Bermuda (4-0), Grenada (6-1), and the Dominican Republic (5-1), plus a hat-trick against Cayman Islands (9-0).
As she has done for country, Shaw was equally prolific with her club in England.
During the calendar year 2022 she scored 15 goals in 19 Women’s Super League games, seven goals in eight domestic cup games — Women’s FA Cup and FA Women’s League Cup — and two goals in two UEFA Women’s Champions League games.