Name: Derek King.
Position: Defender.
Club: Joe Public FC (Trinidad, Under 17 Coach).
DOB: 12.Apr. 1980.
School: Arima Senior Comprehensive (Trinidad).
Previous Club: W Connection (Trinidad).
NOTE: Bright young sweeper or central defender. Joined Joe Public FC after playing with W Connection in 1999. Had a trial with Southampton FC (England) in 1999. Now the head coach of Joe Public U-17 team.

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The WCFC outfit pose with the car presented to Derek King at Guaracara Park.


Derek King wants the contract.

By: Shaun Fuentes.
02-Jan-2005 - Former Arima Senior Comprehensive standout Derek King still has dreams of signing an overseas professional contract.
He believes that his recent appearances as captain of the national team will go a long way in helping him achieve this goal.
The current Joe Public captain was given the armband in recent Digicel Caribbean Cup matches.
“Every player’s dream is to play for a club in one of the top foreign leagues,” said the 24-year-old King, who has been on trial with Southampton while at Vibe CT 105 W Connection.
“It’s a sacrifice you make as a person because to play professionally out there is not an easy thing. We are pros in the local league too, but it’s a different ball game out there.”
King, too, has been working hard on his own time at the Larry Gomes Stadium gym on mornings, before joining the national team for training later in the day.
Like teammate Keyeno Thomas, he has spent time under the supervision of physio Zeph Nicholas, at the Sports Rehabilitation Centre at the Dr Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence.
“We’ve spent a lot of time working on our fitness because we know it’s important that we are in our best shape when it comes to going out there and playing for the country,” King added.

King of the turf.

By IRVING WARD.
Aug-03-99 - Before the start of this year's Craven A Professional Football League, W Connection were relative unknowns.
And likewise, before he made a career move to the southland, Derek King was nothing but a fairly obscure bundle of footballing potential, untapped and underexploited.
Mere months ago, when the local football federation announced plans to scrapping the Semi-Professional League to make way for the PFL, the tall defender seemed headed for a return to divisional football with Queen's Park who had failed to make the pro grade.
However on the advice of his brother Curtis, King accepted a call from WCFC CEO David John-Williams to join one of the newest clubs in the country.
W Connection was at the time nothing but a "fete match side". Yet, King has had no cause to rue his decision to sign on the dotted line for the south-based club. And after repeatedly rising to the occasion for WCFC in the PFL, he is now staring a future with the national team straight in the face. 
Several inspiring performances at the back for the south outfit enabled King to catch the eye of national senior team coach Bertille St Clair.
And since he made his senior debut against South Africa in May, King's main focus has become securing a place on the Trinidad and Tobago squad for the 2002 World Cup.
"I feel I'll be a key player in the 2002 campaign," a confident King told the Express.
"I feel now that as long as I work hard, I will always be able to make the senior team. I have set myself big goals and I intend to accomplish them."
Rubbing shoulders with the big names in the local game has long been a dream for King. However, somewhat surprisingly, he has never knowingly patterned himself after any particular star, national or international.
"I try to set my own standards," he explained, "because I know what is right."
King was 19 when he was called up for the South Africa friendly and he impressed all those who saw him in action, including St Clair. The question that was frequently asked was where did such excellent judgement come from.
After all, good defenders had long been seen as a rare commodity in T&T.
According to King, he, like many other players, did not have any particular love for the position.
He had started in the forward line at Arima Government Boys until the team's coach, Brother Narvis, decided that with his vision and control, he was best suited for the sweeper role. King has not looked back since then.
In fact, he is now looking forward to fulfilling his long time dream to become a full-fledged professional footballer. Before the start of the current season, his eyes were firmly fixed outside the country because there were no domestic options. Despite the existence of the PFl and his participation in it, he still nurtures the dream of playing professionally abroad.
"Personally, I feel that I was born a footballer and I was pushed by my family to become a professional player," he said.
"I'm glad that the opportunity arose for us to have a professional league in Trinidad because I see this as a springboard to get outside." 
England, a country which King toured as a member of T&T's Under-17 squad in 1997, has fired his imagination. He would be prepared, he says, to start at the lowest rung of the ladder in that country, provided that he has a real chance to develop himself.
The option exercised by so many players his age does not interest the former Arima Senior Comprehensive student. For him, he says, it's a foreign contract or bust.
"I am not interested in a scholarship. On a scholarship, according to what school you go to, you find the football level is not high and your level drops as a result. I'm looking at the option of getting a pro contract out there instead and I'm working hard towards it."
Working hard means acquiring the tools with which to attract the foreign scouts. And one way to focus attention on his achievements is to lead both his club W Connection and his country T&T to their ultimate goals-the PFL title in the one case and qualification for the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea in the other.
Currently, though, he has just finished battling with the T&T squad at the Pan Am Games where the man he feels will be able to steer T&T to the next World Cup was hoping to send a message to their rivals in the 2002 campaign.
"Coach St Clair demands a lot from his players," he explained. "That's his style and as players we have to go with what he says. But he has been to a World Cup already with the youth team and he knows how to get it done."
He did not get in done in Winnipeg. And so, King returns home to the southland to resume his struggle with WCFC.
"This year we want to be the Team of the Year so we are focusing on winning as many trophies as possible. But we are really focused on winning the PFL title."
Both he and his teammates are well aware that, despite their early successes, the road will be long and hard. 
"In the first round of the competition, it was a race between us, the Army, Joe Public and Jabloteh. But now, all the teams are showing that their level of football is rising. Playing against those players will be tough but it will also give me a chance to get better at my own game."
And King knows that it is only by bettering his own game that he can hope to live up to his name on the field of play.

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