Jabari Hylton

Jabari Hylton (born 5 November 1998) is a footballer who last played for C.D. Once Deportivo of the Salvadoran Primera Division. Born in the United States, he has represented Jamaica internationally. <!--== Early and personal life ==

First years
Jabari's parents met at the University of the West Indies, where he now studies, and were living in Decatur in Georgia, USA when he was born. Shortly after he was born, the family moved back to his father's native land, Jamaica, where he spent his first few months of life embracing the beautiful Clarendon air at his grandmother's house in May Pen, where his father went to school. After only a couple of months, he was on the move again. This time him and his family traded one Caribbean island for another equally magnificent one; Trinidad & Tobago, the land of his mother's birth. He went to kindergarten there and started primary school before yet another change of residence. Three months before turning six, he was on board a flight towards the United Kingdom, which is where he spent the majority of his childhood and teenage years.

Across the Atlantic
In the UK, he lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, a small town north of London that got to know him for his insane football skill. It was there he went to school, starting off at Bearbrook Combined School. After a year there, he moved school again, this time to William Harding Combined School; close to the Grange School, where both parents worked as teachers at the time. Having excelled at these previous two schools and needing a new challenge, his parents saw to it that he was put in an environment that stimulated his growth and helped him maximize his potential. It was when he was 8, he was offered a sports scholarship to attend Milton Keynes Preparatory School, a top private school in the area. It was here that he began laying the foundations to ultimately becoming the greatly intellectual and intelligent footballer that he is today. After scoring 100% in his 11+ examinations, he chose to attend Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School in his hometown, Aylesbury. It was in his first year at high school that he found out about his mother's condition; she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Jabari was devastated and didn't really know what it meant at that age. His mother encouraged him that she would be fine and the family lived with the knowledge of the diagnosis well hidden from the public, whilst she battled to stay alive. Soon after, the family were evicted and managed to find a new place in the area. During the months leading up to his GCSE examinations, Jabari's family were evicted again and his father managed to rent a room for them to stay in the meantime. Weeks before the exams, they were evicted from there and they moved in with a long-time family friend in Oxford. Eventually, after a few weeks of homelessness, the family found their feet and moved back into a place in Aylesbury, 10 minutes from Jabari's school, where he stayed until midway through lower sixth form, before leaving to join West Ham United's Foundation academy after excelling at a try-out in February 2016. Throughout this dark period, Jabari achieved 8 A's, including an A* in Spanish, and 4 B's at GCSE Level.

Legal Issues
In December 2015, a supposed bailiff knocked on the door of the Hylton household and, without presenting his I.D, attempted to enter the premises. Jabari's father, mother and himself all defended the property and ran the bailiff from the house. The bailiff then called the police claiming that he had been "assaulted". Without questioning anything, riot vans and multiple police cars arrived at the house a few hours later and proceeded to arrest Jabari's father. After asking what was happening, his mother was dragged from inside the house and flung onto her car by a police officer, and arrested; all whilst being sick with stage 3 cancer. Then Jabari was arrested by that same officer. However, when carried to the station, it was declared that he was too young to be held there and was subsequently carried to school by an officer, which was only a few minutes away.

In March 2016, after months of court appearances, Jabari's father was wrongly convicted and charged to 8 months in prison by the UK legal system and his mother was fined. His father was put in a maximum security prison for a crime he did not commit and Jabari and his mother were forced to visit him biweekly for 3 hours each session. This was a huge blow for Jabari as his father was his main teacher and inspiration with whom he talked to hours-on-end daily. It was also difficult period because, by this time, the cancer in his mother's body had spread drastically and she was in a very bad condition. He tried his best to look after her whilst she also persevered and continued going to work without anybody knowing she was ill at her job. She was a real life inspiration for the young lion.

Relocation
Upon his father's release, and based on the legal implications, the family relocated back to the Caribbean, with Jabari choosing to attend the U.W.I in Jamaica where his parents had studied. He flew back to Jamaica on September 16, 2017 and began a fresh cycle in his life. He is currently in his 4th year at the institution, studying for a bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurship with Spanish and Psychology minors. Due to her worsening condition, his mother decided to go home to Trinidad and live out her final years with family

On December 24th, 2019 at 1:30pm, Jabari's mother died of breast cancer in her homeland, Trinidad, at the age of 43 and he received the news from his father at his grandmother's house in May Pen, Clarendon. The last time he saw her was at the start of the year in a hospice in St James, Trinidad, when he flew over to spend Kwanzaa with her; their last Kwanzaa together.

Joe Public
The first club where Jabari started honing his skills was Joe Public in Trinidad. Here, he was given the nickname "Crazy White Socks" because he never stopped running! Anywhere the ball was, you could find Jabari somewhere close by, running at full speed.

Bedgrove Dynamoes
Upon moving to England, he joined local grassroots team Bedgrove Dynamoes.

Oxford United
Having shone in a one day open trial, Oxford United signed Jabari as an 8 year old. He spent 5 years at the club, being the top goal scorer in each of his first 4 years. He was primarily deployed as a centre forward and began playing on the wing during the latter years of his time there. It was here that he drew interest from multiple clubs in England, including the likes of Manchester United who had an offer for the young prodigy turned down by Oxford. He was well sought after and ended up making the switch to rivals Swindon Town in January of 2012

Swindon Town
Former Reggae Boy, Fitzroy Simpson, was impressed by the young attacker from his days at Oxford United and made it his duty to bring his young fellow countryman to Swindon Town, where his son also played. Jabari made the move and played at Swindon until he was 16. His most notable performance came at Watford, where he came off the bench to help his side overturn a 3-1 deficit, with Jadon Sancho scoring all three goals. He scored two and helped set up the winner in the dramatic comeback where his side ran out 4-3 victors.

Despite his advanced skill and technical ability, Jabari was not offered a scholarship by Swindon Town and was released at 16. He spent the summer of 2015 training in his hometown, Aylesbury, and went on trial with Millwall but was not signed.

West Ham Foundation
Jabari never gave up hope and attended a trial at West Ham's foundation academy in Beckton, East London. His quality was clearly visible and he ended up training with the u18's and played a practise match with them.

Histon F.C.
He managed to go on loan to Histon FC, a lower league team based in Cambridge, UK. He played three games for them before returning to West Ham.

UWI
Upon leaving England for Jamaica, Jabari joined U.W.I's first team in September 2017.

2017/18 season
In his first season, he played solely in the intercollegiate competition, which between universities and colleges in Jamaica. He helped his side to a semifinal appearance in the competition, scoring just one goal.

2018/19 season
In his second season, he again played in the intercollegiate league. This time, he finished as the league's top goalscorer and helped his team to an unbeaten season, giving them the title of 'Invincibles'. He also represented the university at the 2019 UWI Games where he received the Golden Boot award. Again, the team were unbeaten. On March 23, 2019, Jabari came on for his professional debut for UWI FC in the National Premier League against Mount Pleasant in a 1-0 loss at the UWI Mona Bowl. It was his only appearance that season.

2019/20 season
The 2019/20 season was a very interesting season for Jabari and his UWI FC. They had a flying start, beating Tivoli Garden FC 4-0 at home with goals coming from Thorn Simpson, Jabari himself, Shuwayne Barrett and Trivante Stewart. However, despite 2 goals from Jabari in the next game against Molynes FC, his side succumbed to a 3-2 defeat. This marked the beginning of a terrible run of form the team endured right up until the league's cancellation in March 2020 due the coronavirus pandemic. By this time, UWI were all but relegated and were saved by COVID as the league was declared null and void.

2021 season
On June 3rd 2021, Jabari made his debut for Pensacola FC 5 games into the National Premier Soccer League season against Southern States SC, scoring the 2nd goal in a 2-0 away victory in Mississippi. Jabari still managed to finish the season as the Gulf Coast Conference top goalscorer with 10 goals (and 5 assists) in 11 appearances guiding Pensacola FC to its first ever playoff.

U17
Whilst at Swindon Town, Jabari was called up to represent Jamaica's U17 team in the CASA tournament in Florida, United States in December of 2014. The team reached the final but lost on penalties. Jabari's only goal came against the Brazilian Select XI and was a clinical one-time finish, set up by Deshane Beckford.

Senior Team
In February 2021, Jabari was called to senior camp for the first time by Jamaica and after the camp was shut down (due to COVID protocols), he was recalled for the fixture against his country of birth, USA; a match played in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. He came on in the 86th minute for Andre Gray, who assisted Jamaica's only goal in a 4-1 defeat. Jabari's impact was immediate and he positively influenced the team through his direct approach and determined dribbling.

Player profile
Jabari is a natural-born goalscorer with unrivaled creative abilities. His inspirations growing up were Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane and Cesc Fabregas. He also grew to admire Diego Maradona and Andres Iniesta a lot and as a teenager he was a big fan of Neymar, especially during his time at Santos. Technical prowess and creating goal scoring opportunities sum up Jabari's style of play.

He is known for his Jab 21, which involves him juggling the ball with all parts of his foot, his thigh, shoulders and head in a progressive manner, from foot to head and then reversed from head back down to foot.-->

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