Barbados: At the age of five, Jalen Yard had open heart surgery and today at the age of 13 he is a valuable member of his school’s hockey team, the national under-21 hockey team and he is training for a yellow belt in karate.
Jalen was just 18 months old when he was diagnosed with a heart murmur that led to him having heart surgery, which was successfully done under the guidance of Dr. Anthony Harris at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
The years following were a bit challenging for Jalen’s parents, Keiva Watson and Jeremy Yard, but a little less challenging for Jalen who at that tender age loved to explore like the average child and nothing kept him quiet.
He participated in school sports at St. Stephen’s Primary School and won medals in the 400m, 200m and 100m races, but Watson was more than happy when Jalen opted to join the Cub Scouts at school which was a tad bit less active than sports.
As an active Cub Scout, Jalen earned 32 badges including the badges for cycling, fitness, the HIV awareness, photography, recycling, cooking, and home help and his dedication and work as a Cub Scout propelled him to receiving the ‘Mahogany Award’ which is the highest award in Cub Scouts.
Not even Covid-19 which stepped in just after Jalen’s surgery was big enough a challenge to deter this resilient young man. Jalen mastered on line classes and when he wrote his Common Entrance Exam in 2022, he was among the top five students in his class in Mathematics and went on to gain a place at Queen’s College, the school of his choice.
From the time Jalen started Queen’s College, he got involved in steel pan (base) and he has played out with the school group and at school functions such as speech days, but he always had a love for sports and in his second term at secondary school, Jalen started to play hockey.
Initially, Jalen was hoping to join lawn tennis at school, but the group was full and hockey was available and because he really wanted to play a sport he joined the hockey group. This was totally against his mother’s plans and we can probably understand why, but she allowed him to follow his passion. Jalen got a chance to play on the school’s under-13 hockey team and from there he advanced to playing with the senior boys and was called up to the national under-21 team.
His first game was during the 2023 Easter vacation when his team participated in the inter school field hockey Ramma Championship. This year he captained the school’s under-15 team in the 2024 field hockey Ramma Championship and in July, he won the MVP award at the conclusion of the Barbados Hockey Federation School League.
Like everything he does, Jalen put his all in hockey and it was while playing in the school league that the National coach saw him play and invited him to try out for the Under 21 team. He impressed the selectors and was chosen for the national under-21 team and is now looking forward to start in the upcoming Hockey Festival this month.
Along with hockey, the chatty young man is also training in Karate with the ‘IKD Karate Club’ and he is working towards a yellow belt. His hockey training takes up four days a week while he trains twice weekly in karate.
While Jalen has a passion for sports, he loves quiet times at home where he enjoys doing various crafts and building cars using styrofoam, bottle caps or straws and he uses balloons to propel them. You might also find him in the kitchen helping to cook an omelet, pasta or a dish of steamed fish and potatoes.
At school, Jalen enjoys Mathematics, Home Economics, Art and Music and despite his activities and challenges, his academics have never suffered. He pays equal attention to his studies and to ensure that he stays on top, he heads home after every training session and completes school assignments and prepares for the next day at school.
Jalen is a confident and balanced teenager and we wish him the best of health going forward and lots of success in his hockey journey.
