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Playing professional soccer was never a dream for Lloyd Barker. Growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, Barker kept his aspirations low and only wanted to play for his local team.
Barker remembers touching a ball for the first time when he started to walk. As he grew up, he never played organised soccer until the age of 12, where he was good enough to play with kids three years older than him.
Barker remembers watching his favorite players from Harbour View Football Club, a club playing in Jamaica's National Premier League. With the stadium around 100 meters away from his home, Barker remembers walking by field and peeking through a fence to watch the team train.
"My dream was very simple," he said sitting in his office after coaching a match. "It was to grow big and gain muscles, so I could play for my club team at Harbour View."
Barker admits he did not know much about world soccer when he was young. All he understood was the Jamaican National Premier League. In World Cups, Barker explains how most Jamaicans cheered for Brazil because "they played beautiful football."
At the age of 12 years old, Lloyd Barker stepped on a plane bound for Ottawa. His father was working in the Canadian capital, while his mother was living back home in Jamaica.
Professional Career
In his new hometown, he continued to develop his soccer abilities. His first indication of turning professional came when he was 16 years old. Barker was invited to train with the Ottawa Intrepid, a team who played in the Canadian Soccer League.
"They wanted me to continue training with the club throughout the summer," Barker remembered. "I wouldn't be playing any games, so I made the conscious decision to play men's elite league."
Barker made a tough decision that day. Most young players would never pass up the opportunity train with a professional team. Having already trained with Ottawa a few times, Barker needed to play in matches instead of just practicing all the time. His opportunity to play with the big team came one year later.
"I kind of worked my way in," he said. "I trained with the team the year before, so the level of play that was required wasn't foreign to me."
In 1986, the Canadian Men's National Team qualified for their first ever FIFA World Cup tournament, which was held in Mexico.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Barker explained the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) was the best professional league in Canada and the United States at the time. The CSL was home to many Canadian international players and quite a large number of American internationals. With the creation of new leagues, such as Major League Soccer and the A-League, the CSL's status diminished.
In December 1992, current President Joey Saputo founded the Montreal Impact, who began playing in the A-League the following summer in 1993.
While training with Scottish club Dundee Football Club, Lloyd Barker got a call from the Canadian Soccer Association's Director of Soccer, who knew Barker from his time in Ottawa.
"He said they were starting a new league, and asked me if I was interested (in playing for the Montreal Impact)," Barker said. "I told them I was thinking about Europe."
The Scottish lifestyle did not suit the Jamaican. Barker returned to Canada shortly after and attended Montreal's try-outs. Former Italian Serie A superstar Eddie Firmani was coaching the Impact at the time. Fifteen minutes was all it took for Barker to make an impression on Firmani.
"Eddie Firmani pointed his four-fingered hand at me, and said go see that guy (Mike Moretto)," he said looking back chucking. "Basically, they said to me, you need to get a passport because we're going to Italy in a week."
Lloyd Barker enjoyed immediate success with the newly formed Montreal Impact. In 1994, he was part of Montreal's first championship winning team. Barker was the team's second highest scorer in 1994, 1995 and 1997. In 1995, he was named the Impact's 'Most Valuable Player' and was part of the league's 'All-Star Starting XI'.
During his early career with the Impact, Barker split time playing for the Impact and his hometown club of Harbour View FC. He managed to play for both teams in one year because the A-League played during the summer months of the year, and the Jamaican National Premier League played during the winter. In 1994, Barker accomplished a major feat by winning a championship with both teams.
"I felt like the king of the world," he said. "It's not easy winning championships anywhere. I was lucky enough to go down each off-season to play, so I didn't spend any winters in Montreal for the first few years."
In the late 1990s, the Montreal Impact also competed as an indoor soccer team in the National Professional Soccer League. The team played in three indoor league season starting in 1997-1998. Playing both indoor soccer and outdoor soccer was typical for North American players at the time. The Impact fielded two separate teams in each category. Not every player from the outside team played with the Impact indoors.
In 1998, Barker's life and career was put in jeopardy while playing for the Montreal Impact's indoor team. He suffered a partial dislocation of his fifth from sixth spinal cord vertebrae. While attempting to perform a scissor kick, Barker was pushed in the air, landing awkwardly on his neck. In the moment, he was paralysed. Barker managed to surprise everyone, including doctors by reporting for a training camp in the spring of 1999.
"I was paralysed initially, and with the grace of God, I came out of it," he described, nodding his head. "When I left the hospital, after spending a week there, I still wasn't able to walk."
Barker returned to soccer, with a short stint with the Toronto Lynx. In Toronto, he transitioned from a striker to a winger. When Lloyd Barker returned to the Impact in 2001, he was a complete versatile player. He played many times on one of the wings, and even finished his career as a left back with the Impact.
After suffering a life-threatening injury a few years prior, Barker ended his career on a positive note, winning another championship with Montreal in 2004.
International Career
Throughout his career, Lloyd Barker represented Jamaica in international competitions. He made his international debut for Jamaica in 1994 against the United States. Barker debuted for Jamaica when Brazilian coach, René Simões, took charge of the national team. Simões eventually led Jamaica to their first and only FIFA World Cup appearance in 1998.
"I was what they called a foreign based player," Barker said. "During that period of time, there were no other Jamaicans playing football outside Jamaica. They actually sent representatives to Canada to watch me play."
Deep down, Barker always wanted to play for Jamaica. He waited many years for the call, and actually lost hope in the Jamaican National Team.
"I was holding out for Canada," he said surprisingly. "I lost hope in Jamaica. Canada was starting to have a structure, while Jamaica was only playing a few times a year."
When Barker learned René Simões was becoming the Jamaican National Team coach, his interest for representing his native country resurged. Finally, in 1994, Barker flew down to Kingston, Jamaica to announce his decision to represent Jamaica.
While returning home that day, Barker received an unexpected long distance phone call.
"Bob Lenarduzzi, of the Canadian Soccer Association, was calling to invite me to play for Canada. I'm telling you, it was the same day. I just got dropped off at home not even 15 minutes before. I still had my suit and tie on."
Barker ended up staying with the Jamaican National Team, going on to represent his country 18 times. To this day, Barker admits that if Canada had called him a few months earlier, before René Simões took over Jamaican soccer, he would have chosen to represent Canada.
Post-Career
Following his professional career, Lloyd Barker became an assistant coach with the Montreal Impact in 2005. In his final years as a player, Barker was already gearing up for a coaching career.
"I knew about three years prior to retiring, I was going to stop," he said. "So, I started seeing the game differently because I was already preparing to be a coach."
At the end of 2005, Barker became the technical director of a Montreal soccer club. He left this club two years ago. During his time as a technical director, Barker coached at the Elite level (AAA), until finally being named Head Coach of the Concordia University's Men's team where he continues to coach.
Lloyd Barker is still involved with the Montreal Impact. He is an ambassador of the club, talking to children at schools around Montreal. He was there since the start of the Impact's 'Stay In School Program'. Barker has also started to work in the media. He is able to be seen or heard on TSN and CTV.
Lloyd's Impact
Starting off with a small dream, Lloyd Barker was able to successfully navigate his way through Canadian and Jamaican soccer. To this day, his name will always be in the Montreal Impact's history book as one of the club's builders.
Throughout his career, Barker's personality on and off the pitch has generated praise from former teammates and members of the media.
"I think Lloyd's leadership and drive were keys to the two championships the club won with him," said Olivier Tremblay, who writes for MLSSoccer.com and Sport Extra on Radio-Canada. "His energy and his athletic qualities were second to none."
"Lloyd was a great person to have in the dressing room," said friend and former Montreal Impact teammate Nevio Pizzolitto. "He had a great sense of when to be serious and when to have fun. He was a guy players used as a role model; he became a good friend and confidant to many of us. Lloyd cared about his teammates and went out of his way on many occasions to help others."
Massimo Di Ioia represented the Montreal Impact from 2006 to 2008. He got to know Lloyd Barker in his time at the club.
"The Montreal Impact has benefited with players like Lloyd, seeing how he is one of the very few builders of this club," he said. "That title definitely comes with a lot of sweat and Lloyd was always one who would not shy away from hard work. His versatility in his game gave him value as a player. I believe the Montreal Impact realized they had a gem with him and had no choice but to fully exploit his talent."
As long as the Montreal Impact continues to exist, Lloyd Barker will always find a way to be connected to the club which gave him a chance to fully achieve his dreams.
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