By Ravin Singh
IN 2002 when Carl Hooper recorded his highest innings score of 233 during a Test match against India at Bourda, Shaquille Williams was only eight years old and decided at that moment that he was going to become a successful sportsman.

Today, the 21-year-old says he is utilising a sports scholarship opportunity awarded to him, to maximise his potential, having already carved his name among the best youth cricketers to emerge from Guyana.
Born March 20, 1994, in Georgetown, ‘Goon’ as he is more popularly known, attended Sacred Heart Primary where he successfully earned a spot at one of the country’s top secondary school – St Joseph High.
But his love for cricket was not realised in his later years at high school. In fact, at the tender age of eight, he joined the Malteenoes Sports Club where he was kept under the wings of popular coach Neil Barry Sr.
Recognised as a talented, persistent youth, a few years later Williams led Georgetown to the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB)/NALICO/NAFICO-sponsored Under-15 Inter-association title. Though he did not captain the team, his invaluable experience at that age imposed the responsibility of becoming the ‘man-in-charge’ of what was happening on the field for Demerara in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB)/Castrol-sponsored Under-15 inter-county tournament. As he did for Georgetown, he led Demerara to the title, defeating their nemesis Berbice in the second of two matches.
This useful Malteenoes all-rounder was destined for captaincy, given his professional posture and mannerism on the field, which, even to this day, demand respect from his teammates.
“Goon” slowly etched his name as one of the better Youth cricketers in Guyana and went on to captain Guyana Under-15s in 2009, landing the team a third-place spot in the Regional 50 overs competition. He then went on to captain Guyana’s Under-17 in 2010 during the Trinidadians’ tour of Guyana. In 2013 he was selected to play for the President’s X1 during the Inter-county competition.
During yesterday’s interview, he momentarily paused and reflected on one of the most tragic but hilarious moments of his career, recalling that during one of his first-division matches as a teen, while fielding at mid-off, he dropped a catch, after which the ball connected to his upper lip, leaving it swollen. ”There was humour in the tragedy,” he said with a smile.
But then events which were supporting him to build his career took a turn for the worse. The following year, during a court conflict with no functioning Demerara Cricket Board, Williams was omitted from the Demerara Under-19 squad and subsequently the national squad – omissions which he claimed were unjustified.
According to Williams, what was astounding about this development was the fact that most of his peers who had played under his captaincy had comprised the squad from which he was omitted. Sad to say, there was no decline in his career at that time, which made his omission incomprehensible.
Reminiscent on Hooper’s achievement and what his goal was, he persevered in developing his craft and made a grand comeback when he gained the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in a Guyana Cricket Association (GCA) Under-19 competition, propelling his breakthrough into the Demerara senior team. Williams was able to execute a skilful performance, scoring an unbeatable 78 on debut.
This performance, coupled with his consistent economic bowling figures made him stamp his name in the local Senior County cricket arena and in 2014 the selectors placed him as a standby for the Regional Super50 tournament for the national team.
Staying true to the well-known quote “I never dream of success; I work for it”, Williams, that same year got his breakthrough when he was offered a Cricket scholarship by the University of West Indies Cave Hill Campus as a student-athlete in their Developmental Cricket Academy.
“This granted me the opportunity to read for my Bachelor’s Degree in Banking & Finance and play cricket simultaneously, which was a major issue when I was a full-time Environmental Sciences Student at University of Guyana; I never got that privilege to effectively pursue both,” he says.
Williams currently plays for the UWI Cave Hill Campus and is focused on making his entry into the Combined Campuses and Colleges team which would generate great exposure for him to showcase his apparent talent.
Just last year, the University won all of their matches in the Barbados Cricket Association domestic competition which was a feat only achieved twice. The first was done by the same university in 2012 in a T20 competition.
Meanwhile, commenting on his current performance, Williams was keen to note, “I see myself as a work in progress and I’m continuously learning more about my strengths and weaknesses, and working towards strengthening both.”
While balancing both an academic and a sport life has been a challenge for him, Williams noted that he is built with the capacity to brave the challenges in life. He commented on his love for his home country, revealing that this success thus far should not only be credited to him, but those who supported him and Guyana which facilitated this.
Williams hopes to one day be selected to represent the West Indies senior cricket team and not only be a West Indian representative, but one of the only English-speaking speaking country in South America.
“I love Guyana; it is the land of my birth and I will always be a representative of that country,” he says.