FC Edmonton defender Jeannot Esua is a long way from home. The 23-year-old native of Cameroon is awaiting to play in his second Canadian Premier League season with the Eddies after a successful rookie campaign that saw him win the club’s Player of the Year award for 2019. The athletic right fullback credits his upbringing in Africa for the drive that provides him with endless energy on the pitch. "When I look at where I’m coming from it always reminds me I need to stay awake and I need to work even when others don’t want to work," Esua told CanPL.ca. "I know people that are way better than me (who) are still in Africa right now because they didn’t just put in the work." Esua was born and raised in Cameroon, alongside his two brothers, by his mom (now a retired nurse) and his father (an electrician). He thanks his parents for being up to the task of raising three young boys and helping them gain an education despite the difficult conditions that surrounded them. While he’s thankful for his schooling, Esua always had one goal: to play professional soccer. "That was the only sport I really wanted to do. I was always kicking stuff around at the age of five, and at the age of eight I started training with my boyhood club," he said. "Pretty much for me it was soccer, school, soccer, school. Because in Cameroon school closes at three, and after that I’d go for training and get home at seven. I used to do that every day." RELATED READING: Former teen phenom Hanson Boakai returns home to Edmonton in search of redemption While Esua now fondly looks back on his childhood memories, he admits it wasn’t always easy learning the game without all of the necessary equipment needed: "For me that was hard, sometimes I found myself in situations where my soccer cleats got bad and I was trying to fix them up and still use them." Local facilities weren’t much better either, often consisting of small fields with little to no grass. It was there where a young Esua began to learn his craft. "I can remember I was always working on my technique because to play on fields like that your first touch needs to be perfect. You need to think quick and react quick," he said of the uneven dirt pitches he played on as a kid. Despite the less-than-ideal environment, Esua always felt safe as a youth in Cameroon, devoting his time and energy to soccer as an outlet. "Some of my soccer friends along the line stopped playing soccer because they were influenced by one or two things growing up. I’m the kind of person that’s not easy to influence, so I was able to pull away from that circle and kept my mind going on soccer," Esua said. "The fact that I played soccer helped me a lot because I have friends right now that are dead. It kept me away from being out late, because growing up in Africa most kids when they turn 16 start coming home drunk." Instead, at age 16, Esua moved away from home for the first time. He opted to sink himself into the game at one of the largest football academies in West Africa, which just so happened to be in his home country. There, a young Esua began to hone his skills with his mind set on one day playing outside of Cameroon. "To make it out of Cameroon is not easy," he offered. "We have a bunch of talented players, so for you to make it you need to have some aspect that those players don’t have." For Esua, he believes it was his mentality, not his physical attributes, that helped him separate himself from his peers: "The work and the mindset is mostly what makes the difference." In 2017, his lifelong dream finally came to fruition when he signed a contract with the Orange County Soccer Club in California. Just like that, a young 20-year-old that had never even been to North America was off to the Golden State. "I had never really left Africa before, leaving Africa on contract with the U.S. was like a dream come true to me. Even when I was on the plane I was so anxious to get there and see what it looked like," Esua recalled. Esua spent a year in Orange County before heading back to Cameroon for a season, and eventually finding his way to Edmonton in February of 2019 — a chilly introduction to say the least. "The first day I got here I can’t forget," he laughed. "The leaves were all dried up and the next day we had to do a team bonding so we went into the woods, and that was my first time being in the snow. It wasn’t easy." Now the survivor of two harsh Canadian winters, Esua is beginning to settle into Edmonton and has adjusted to living far away from his family and friends: "I would say I’m getting used to it, but I’m always going to miss my family when I have to stay long without seeing them." While he hasn’t been home in two years, the Esua family remains closely knit, finding new ways to stay connected, although he hopes to lay down his own roots in Canada: "I feel it’s a good country for any young person to establish themselves and see what the future holds for them. It’s a good place." He believes his talent is better suited for North American soccer than back in Cameroon, where the game is more focused on long balls and fighting to win the ball back. "Growing up I used to have that problem where some coaches would just maybe put me on the bench cause I didn’t fit into that game plan," he explained. "I feel like now I have the opportunity to enjoy the game and express myself more to where I am with the ball and make my own mistakes and learn from them. I’m enjoying my talent now and hoping to grow more." Now that Esua has realized his goal of playing professional soccer, he aims to keep working hard to see just how far his talent and drive can take him. But no matter where soccer leads Esua next, one thing remains certain: a piece of his game will have always been shaped by those small, grassless fields back home where he dreamed the dream he’s living now. "Cameroon is always going to be my roots."

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