Tamar Watson The way forward.
By Lorraine Waldropt (Trinidad Express).
It was a cool Sunday evening, January 4th, four days after national footballer, Tamar Watson's 21st birthday. She didn't get the opportunity to fully celebrate the occasion with her two best friends, boxing icon Jizelle Salandy and Randy Hamilton. They were inseparable for almost four years now, but Jizelle's packed promotional schedule put a spoke in the wheel of their "three musketeer birthday lime.
So this glorious Sunday, Watson hoped they would repay her at an annual football gathering at National Coach, Marlon's house in Maracas St. Joseph. Jizelle had trained with the team earlier that morning and she was familiar with Tamar's teammates, an even better reason to attend the function. But Jizelle and Randy claimed they couldn't make the social. Tamar recalled that she was disappointed but her sadness turned to gladness when both friends arrived later in the night.
"They wanted to surprise me by turning up unexpectedly. Jizelle came in a rental car with Nathalie, her PR officer and Randy came on his own. We had a great time just hanging out with the team. No one was drinking we were just having fun as we usually do," Tamar recollected.
When the lime was over Watson and Salandy dropped off Nathalie to her home in Piarco and headed back to the Chancellor Hotel where both girls were staying. Watson decided to take a nap along the way and her wake up call was the crash against the pillar at the Beetham, the crash which snuffed the life of Jizelle Salandy and spared hers.
"I was in and out of consciousness but Jizelle was unconscious.My mom told me of Jizelle's death on the day of the funeral but I had a hunch that she had died. In surgery I got a vision that she came to my bedside and said 'later Tames, ah gone dey'.
"I asked her why she was leaving me but she just faded away," she added.
Watson has had to relate these events several times since the accident and each time is quite emotional for her. But last Saturday, almost a month since the tragedy, she was strong and accepting.
Dressed in a trendy plaid shorts and brown T-shirt, she was a far cry from your typical down-trodden accident victim. As she sat on her bed at her Point-a-Pierre home, her brother- recently appointed bedside companion- busily watching a movie and her dad turned nurse dutifully catering to her meals, her amicable personality and positive energy totally eclipsed her battle scars of two broken legs, a broken collarbone and a bruised hip.
The restricted movement in her legs and aches and pains in her shoulders though unnatural for her athletic toned built, haven't deducted from her determined spirit. Her partially healed stitches and willingness to share her story further indicated that her healing process had definitely begun.Â
"Jizelle and I were like sisters. We were always there for each other. Old Years night we were together at a function at Harry Ragoonanan's house doing impersonations of foreigners and entertaining the crowd," she smiled.
Girls seemed to enjoy casual get togethers and childish fun games more than clubs and parties. Tamar claimed, "We would play cards together and this Christmas Randy taught us a new game called eights. Jizelle loved to play it to relax between her busy training schedules."Â Just last December, Salandy, Watson and their other best friend Randy Hamilton had high hopes of pulling off a children's event, "Aunty Jizelle's Children's Party", which was supposed to kick off on January 25th, Salandy's birthday. Now it has been regrettably rescheduled to February 14th at La Brea Basketball Court. "Jizelle loved children. She asked me once- 'Tames you will help me when I start my degree in psychology right?'- I told her of course. She was to visit me at University next year after she retired from boxing and we had planned to tour New York and California", the skillful midfielder said sadly. It was just one of the many goals the two sportswomen had on their agenda.
Today, Watson is sobered by the fact that her personal dreams could have also been shattered by the accident - dreams of completing her 2006 awarded scholarship at Shorter College University, Georgia after working so hard at local teams WConnection FC and Real Dimension FC; dreams of acquiring her degree in Business Administration, a field she simply loves; dreams of dominating the US Collegiate league. Luckily, her academic future is secure. Although stringent rules apply to scholarship athletes who get injured during their tenure, Shorter University has made some allowances so that she can do her first semester courses online and still enter her senior year come this September. Of course her insatiable optimism and thirst to succeed also aids in her way forward.
"I will be walking in the next two months, she confidently stated. And my doctors have assured me that I can start back playing football by the end of the year. I am keeping abreast of my classes on line so that when I start back in September I'll be back on track," she continued.
For now her laptop fully equipped with internet, loads of music and fun pictures of Salandy and herself keeps her distracted from what she calls her "intermittent crying moments".
"My mom, my whole family, my friends, coaches, doctors and even some of the hospital staff have supported me immensely. When people are around I don't have time to sulk. But there are quiet times when I think back and cry a little. I lost my best friend- a person whose genuine laughter and enthusiasm could brighten your day- it's a great loss. But I have tons of great memories," declared the past student of Pleasantville Secondary School.
Memories enough to fill the gap she now has in her life. From Salanday's shadow boxing stints to music selected by "DJ Tames" to their adventures with Hamilton as "The Three Musketeers" to the last night they talked and joked about life's adversities - all these events bring a smile to Watson's face which bears a blackened left eye, yet another of her many injuries from the accident.
Moving forward, she relies on new hope and a new light which will guide her path.
"Life is very challenging now, I can't walk just yet so I use my hands to get around; my healing is gradual. But since the accident I have renewed my faith in God. As a child I went to church because my grandfather was a pastor in La Brea. Jizelle also tried to get me to become more spiritual as she was. But now it's different. I have my own experience to bring me closer to Him. I have learned to put God first in everything and that he kept me alive through the whole ordeal for a purpose. My efforts would be directed towards finding out what this purpose is!" she avowed. She then buoyantly concluded,
"I can move on now. When I finish school I want to start my own business and do some football coaching. But what I really want to do is write a book someday - the name An Experience with an Angel on Earth - a book on my friendship with Jizelle".
