Joel Bailey has been inducted into the Wheeling Jesuit University’s Athletics Hall of Fame, class of 2018.
Bailey scored ninety goals for WJU over a four-year period, a record that is hardly likely to be broken. He was All-American from2000-2002 and lead his team to a Great Lakes Championship in 2000, finishing fifth in the nation.
Not only was he named Rookie of the year at WJU 1999, he was also named the Secondary School’s Football League Most Valuable Player in 1998, where he played alongside other Naps greats such as Leon Brown, Sanjeev Katwaroo and Erasto Neptune.
Upon completion of university, Bailey realized his dream of playing pro-football for teams in North America such as the Montreal Impact and the Baltimore Blast (indoor).
He has the unique achievement of winning a championship in both outdoor soccer as well as an indoor.
Our football manager Percy Samlalsingh describes Bailey as, “A consummate professional and a perfect role model to his players, as he balanced his academia and football with great success. It was rare in that time for players to complete university and go on to play professional football.” Former goalkeeper at Naps, Sunil Ramdial says, “Joel is as dedicated as they get and he never ceased to amaze us on the football field.”
Bailey just missed out on the Soca Warriors 2006 World Cup campaign, but represented the red, white and black five times in 2007. After hanging up his white boots he obtained a Master’s degree in Sport Management, and was once the Director of Football Operations with TTEC Professional Team.
In the 2017 season he and his assistant Ronnie Hunte took Naps U-14 team to the South League and Knockout Championship and to the semi- finals of the National League. This year is proving to be a more challenging one, but there is still the knockout to come.
Bailey is proud to be a Naparima College alumnus, class of 1999, and is even more proud of being one of our youth coaches. He says, “I see coaching as a way of giving back to Naps, as it was through Naps that I achieved so many of my goals.” He was in high praise of our Principal, Dr. Dowlath and Percy Samlalsingh for their belief in the positive role that football plays in the lives of students. Bailey also paid homage to our late sports master, Mr. Roy Jagroopsingh whom he described as being, “a very influential figure in his life.”
Outside of football Bailey is quite the family man. He takes joy in spending time with his wife Sharon and his three sons Gianluca, Dario and Donato.
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