Khadija Bunny Shaw, 26, striker for Jamaica
Bunny Shaw collects all the old soccer boots her Manchester City teammates dont want. They call me the Cleats Truck, says the striker, laughing. Jamaicas top goal scorer of all timein the mens and the womens gamecan easily afford any boots she wants, but as a young girl she had to play in her school shoes. She knows that many young Jamaicans dont have money for cleats, so whenever she goes back to the island, she presents those top-quality secondhand boots as prizes in local female soccer competitions.Born in 1997 in Spanish Town, not far from the capital, Kingston, Khadija Shaw was the youngest of 13 children. One of her older brothers nicknamed her Bunny after her love of carrots. She loved watching him play soccer on the street outside their home. A lot of people would gather and bet on who was going to win, Shaw recalls. I thought, I want to be a part of that! So the boys started her off in goal.Her parents werent happy. Her father, a shoemaker, and her mother, a poultry farmer, prized education for their kids. Her mother in particular thought soccer was a waste of time. In Jamaica there were no girls or womens teams, but I wanted to play football, says Shaw, who had a World Cup poster on her wall and dreamed of competing in the sports greatest tournament.So shed play while her mother was out at the market. After she was caught, she turned to negotiatingIf I wash the dishes, can I go out and play?until she was selected at age 14 for Jamaica Under 15s. Her father convinced Bunnys reluctant mother that it would be a valuable experience.
Bunny Shaw was on her way. She made the national team in 2015 and got a soccer scholarship at the University of Tennessee, where she earned a degree in communications, becoming the first person in her family to graduate from university.When the Reggae Girlz, as the Jamaican national team is dubbed, qualified for the 2019 Womens World Cup after beating Panama in a penalty shootout, Shaws dream had come true. It was a first for any Caribbean country.Though Jamaica would go on to be eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup, qualifying was unforgettable. I just knelt down on the pitch, and everyone was running around going crazy! she recalls.Shaw will be going with the Reggae Girlz to her second World Cup this summer. When I look back on where I was then and where I am now, Im proud of myself, says Jamaicas all-time top goal scorer.Her advice to anyone with an impossible dream? Failure is not permanent. Keep pushing, keep working hard.(Related: 7 Ways Anyone Can Become an Athlete)
