Naheem's big football dream

Nine-year-old Naheem Ragguette says he wants to play for the national football team and then move on to play with his role model, football star Cristiano Ronaldo, when he grows up.

A student of Excel Beetham Estate Government Primary School, Naheem plays for the Trendsetter Hawks Football Academy. The team won the 2024 Concept Coaching Under-9 Super League title and Naheem was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). Last year the team was also the Under-8 Concept Coaching champions.

Naheem started playing football at age five with his friends. Seeing his potential, his late grandfather, Mervin Pompey enrolled him in Trendsetter and he started taking the game seriously.

He now plays all positions on the field, except goalkeeper.

Asked what he liked about football he told Newsday Kids, “I like my skill and my shooting. I like to score and do tricks. And I like all the big trophies and the big money.”

He said after playing for the national team, he wanted to play for the Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr like Ronaldo. He wants to be like Renaldo because of his skill and technique.

He also likes to play basketball on the neighbourhood court in Beetham with his friends, and said if he cannot be a professional footballer he wants to play professional basketball.

The standard one student also likes mathematics and said if he cannot play sports for a living, he would want to be a lawyer.

He attends football practice on Thursdays and Saturdays but tries to do schoolwork every weekday.

He also has two younger brothers who he is teaching to play football, and his father, who was also a member of Trendsetters, often plays with them at home.

He said his grandfather used to encourage him and take him to his practices and games, but since he died last year, his parents have been there to support him.

Naheem said his team wins a lot of games, and since playing with Trendsetter he won a number of trophies both with the team and individually, including Most Goals and MVP.