…Scholar footballer, daughter of Guyana

FOR Cameo Hazlewood, football is in her blood. From the 1920s when her grandfather A. D. Hazlewood (known to teammates as ‘Peck’) represented Berbice against Georgetown; to her father Dr. Dexter Hazlewood and several uncles who, through the 50s, 60s and 70s were outstanding high school and club football players in Guyana, at Queens College, St. Stanislaus, as well as Juventus and Sandbach Parker in the local football league. Her father and coach, himself an avid footballer, played for Santos FC and Woolford United before migrating to the United States where he was a key player for his high school Brooklyn Tech, his college Columbia University and Blackpool Football Club in the New York Cosmopolitan and Caribbean football leagues.

No doubt Cameo is following the blueprint laid before her. As a proud member of the ‘Lady Jags’team in the CONCACAF qualifiers, Cameo, with the talented lineup of ladies, will be extending the boundaries of Guyana’s football toward World Cup aspirations. It’s an honour she takes very seriously as she bonds and relishes the time spent with her ‘Lady Jags’ teammates.

Cameo brings solid credentials rooted in her early training which emphasised scrupulous attention to mastering the fundamentals of the game. This has been amply displayed in the current Group ‘E’ Qualifiers for the World Cup where Cameo scored Guyana’s pivotal equalising goal against pre-tournament favourites, Bermuda. She garnered assists in both games while demonstrating versatility by playing in multiple positions, when called upon by the coach, to promote a successful outcome for Guyana.

SCHOLAR ATHLETE
Cameo has had the opportunity to train under coach James Galanis, best known for his training of Carli Lloyd, USA (Women’s World Cup winner, Olympic gold medalist and twice FIFA World Player of the year).

Her understanding of the game comes from patient tutelage over the years coupled with being an avid student of both women’s and men’s football. Her pursuit and achievement of a USSF coaching license while still a competitive player, has given her tactical acumen and awareness crucial for successful international competition.

The talented ‘Lady Jags’team member is a crossover athlete who featured for her high school in the 100 and 200-metres track events, setting school records in both. Cameo’s speed is an invaluable asset often posing a challenge to opposing teams, and is an indispensable attribute of the modern game.

Cameo’s mental toughness and determination is the result of deliberate and strategic exposure from an early age to the highest level of football participation available in her home-base in Illinois, USA. This often required travelling two and a half hours each way on school nights to attend practices. The demanding effort was necessary to compete for playing time in the weekend tournaments on the premier clubs of which she was a member. These clubs often competed for National and State titles while having many of its players called into youth national team camps.

Cameo has been a standout in the Olympic Development Programme representing Illinois and being included in the regional pool camp (the best players from 14 U.S Midwest states). All of this was done while maintaining high academic standards that allowed her to be heavily recruited by colleges across the US where she has played NCAA Division One football in the Ivy League.

At 21, Cameo hopes that her lifelong preparation and experiences can be brought to bear for this moment: representing the home of her paternal ancestors at the highest level in the sport that she loves. Her hope and intent are to be a part of propelling the ‘Lady Jags’, under the expert and proven guidance of the coaching and management team, led by Dr Ivan Joseph, in presenting enough of a confounding dilemma for their opponents in this series. She looks forward to being a part of and eventually catapulting Guyana’s Women’s football firmly on to the world map of international football.