Ronaldo Brown, a former Jamaica College Manning Cup winner, was named to the United Soccer Coaches Junior College Men’s Division I All-America Team for 2018. Brown broke his school record for most points in a single season in the fall season. He scored 21 goals in that season. The Northeast Texas Community College men’s soccer team finished its 2018 season in a sudden-death match against Pima College in the NJCAA Men’s Division I National Tournament held in Daytona, Florida. The team lost with a score of 3-2 on a golden goal during overtime. According to NTCC athletic director Andy Morgan, the school is proud of the men’s soccer team for its extraordinary performance during the season. Ronaldo Brown answered the first goal scored by Pima’s Hugo Kametani at 10.34 with an unaided goal for NTCC 35.01 minutes into the game. The regulation time ended with a tied 2-2 match when Kametani again scored with the golden goal. The loss of the match removes NTCC from the tournament’s competition.

Brown has some difficulty at Jamaica College, having periods of low grades and apathy toward academics. His fanatic love for football also contributed to his low performance, he said, as he once thought that his talent for football was all he needed to succeed in his life. He got a wake-up call in the summer of 2017 when he attended training sessions and his coach suggested that he wouldn’t be able to return to school. He reached a point where he was alone a lot, Brown said, and began to think about what he wanted to do with his life if he didn’t get back into Jamaica College. He asked for and received a second chance from the school and worked to prove himself worthy of the opportunity.

Brown ultimately deceived a financial contribution from the school’s former principal and Minister of Education Ruel Reid to help him with his studies abroad.

Information and Photo Source: Jamaica College Soccer,  United Soccer Coaches