BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic — Christine Exeter’s name may not immediately resonate with followers of Jamaica’s football.

But by her rhetoric and overall posture, they are bound, in due course, to become familiar with the mere mention of it.

The 22-year-old, who makes her debut for the senior Reggae Girlz in their Group Three CFU Olympic qualifying game at the Estadio Panamericano in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic today, has quickly established her leadership assets with the team and has been crowned it’s new captain.

But Exeter, who attends the University of Louisville, Kentucky, is not all talk, but is quick to point out that she is equally a woman of deed.

In her opinion, leadership in any form or shape is vital to any desire for success. Without blinking or losing a beat, she thinks she possesses those qualities, that she stands ready to offer for the sake of her team and the forthcoming generation of women players.

“I believe that leadership is key to success and I do have quite a bit of leadership, and I do believe that it could bring this team a long way,” she told the Jamaica Observer in an interview yesterday.

“I think this team looks to me as leader in some aspects, but I think we look to each other, I guess. But I think I can be a good leader to this team because they do listen to what I have to say, although sometimes they don’t like what I have to say, which is understandable. But definitely I am looking to the seniors in this team as I am new, but I need everyone to understand that I have done a lot and I want to use everything I have learnt to help bring us to the next level,” Exeter shared.

Though she hinted to her vast experience with leadership at the college, club and the international levels, the former Canada youth player said she thinks, among other things, she brings a sense of urgency to the set-up.

“What we lack is a sense of urgency sometimes and I think I can help bring that to the team based on what I have done in the past, like in the university. And Hue (Menzies) has helped to bring that urgency to this team and I think he is a great leader for me, and he is helping the team a lot,” said the former Pickering High School student.

But Exeter conceded that she does not regard herself as being a born leader, but noted that those qualities were cultivated over the years.

“I think these qualities were developed because basically I was a shy person. Maybe in my freshman year at college people started looking at me as a leader, but I didn’t know how to lead, so I went about reading books and looking at people who were leaders to me and asked them questions how they did it,” she said.

Exeter, who has a year to go in completing her degree in sports administration, noted that she and her Jamaica teammates are being driven by the possibility of creating a piece of history that has eluded Jamaican football teams — male and female — of qualifying for the Olympics.

“I have never qualified for an Olympic Games so that is something on my checklist, and I think there are a lot of girls on this team with the same mentality, so I think that would be great.

“I also think us qualifying would open up the eyes of all these children in Jamaica who don’t have this opportunity, and to also change the atmosphere in the programme for soccer in the Caribbean region,” she said as she weighed in on the possibilities.

That dream begins with a first step today, and Exeter has the burden of leading her troops into battle where defeat is not an option. But defeat, God forbids, would still have its rewards, as she puts it.

“We hope we will have two wins for sure, but also we hope that this tournament will allow us to bond more as a team as there are a lot of new faces and we have been together for over a week training, and I hope that has helped … we got to know each other more and I think that was the key thing,” she argued.

Although she was born and raised in Canada, and represented the country’s Under-20 team, Exeter’s umbilical cord remained tightly affixed to her Jamaican ancestry.

“I was asked some time ago (to play for Jamaica), but I was already involved with the Canadian team — but my parents have always pushed me to do it.

“I just said to myself this was just God working… when I tore my knee I had a choice to stop playing or play, but when I was able to play again this opportunity presented itself. But I said if I can help take this programme to the next level and to help open the doors for the next generation of kids, then that would be an Olympic medal in my heart,” said Exeter, whose grandmother hails from Clarendon.

Exeter, whose father is from St Vincent and the Grenadines, claims she has won many accolades playing the sport, especially at the collegiate level where she is “graduate assistant” coach of the women’s team at the University of Louisville.

“As a freshman I was rookie of the year in our conference and the second year I was offensive player of the year, scoring the most goals in the conference, and in my junior I played for Canada at the World Cup,” she said.

— Sean Williams