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Jermaine Mentoor gives off a loosey-goosey vibe. He’s quick with a joke, with a smile, with good-natured trash talk to a classmate. He’s quick to break out his dance moves when the right music moves him.
But not far beneath that lies a deeply competitive person who is always looking for the next challenge.
“I take things hard because I know I can do better,” the Putnam Science Academy senior soccer player said recently. “And I know when I challenge myself to do better, it makes me a better player, but it makes me a better person, too.”
He challenges himself not to repeat mistakes off the field, and to strive for an A+ on all of his schoolwork. On the field, it’s about becoming the best player he can be. A few years ago his father told him that his left foot needed work if he wanted to play soccer at a high level. Mentoor has dedicated himself to improving his technique passing, shooting, and getting the ball in the air with his left. And he is at the point now where he feels comfortable playing with both feet.
That was on display last week in a game against Hoosac (a 5-0 win for the Mustangs), in which he controlled play from his center back position.
“He did very well. He was very, very solid for us back there,” said PSA coach Sam DeMello. “He’s starting to realize that this is an opportunity, because he’s naturally a right back but now playing center back. It’s an opportunity for him to add a different dimension to his game and to ultimately showcase himself to colleges.”
Said Mentoor, who hails from Capetown, South Africa: “My last couple of games before Hoosac, I didn’t play so well, as well as I could have and should have. But the match against Hoosac, for me I played very well. I hardly had any mistakes. I just played the way I should have been playing.”
Mentoor, who is wiry but strong at 6-feet-tall and 160 pounds, said he would probably be a swimmer based on how well he did when he was younger. And if things don’t work out after college and he’s not playing professional soccer as he hopes, he can see himself being a chef.
“I love to cook,” he said. “My mom teaches me back home. It’s something different to do and it keeps me busy. It’s something else to challenge myself to learn to do.”
But first, soccer. DeMello said Mentoor is an attractive college player because of his technical ability on the ball. He is also very athletic, which lets him compete for balls in the air and cover space on the ground with his speed.
“He’s got a lot of tools that can make him a very successful college player,” DeMello said.
For his part, Mentoor said none of that stuff enters his mind during the game. His focus is solely on directing his team in front of him and keeping the opposition away from his net.
“I don’t think about anything like that. I just think about the game,” he said. “After the game, then I can think about the other things. But the first things that come to my mind are ‘How did I do today?’ and ‘What did I do well? What do I need to work on and do better?’ and then I focus on the things I can improve on.
“There are so many opportunities and challenges in playing against top teams and working against top players in our training. I just love the game and I love the challenges it gives me. That’s what I pay attention to.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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