Shannen and Meg

Shannen watching a game

The Soccer Team

Selecting the Sri Lankan Youth of the month is no easy task. But we at Canada SriLanka.com are pleased to honour Shannen Jainudeen with this prestigious title. Her remarkable achievements include becoming the only Sri Lankan to represent Team Ontario at the Canada Games 2009.

Shannen, is the youngest member of the Ontario Soccer team. This 15 year old did not let her age get in the way, as she put in a lot of time into training to achieve her goal of playing for her province, Ontario. All that hard work has finally paid off. She went on to represent Ontario at the Canada games 2009 in Prince Edward Island (P.E.I) recently and bagged a Bronze medal to her credit.

This young lady however is a big dreamer and continues to surprise her parents with every achievement. In junior school, she was awarded Athlete of the Year (2007). The following year she won the Ajax Soccer Club Performance Award (2008) in addition to being on the High School Academic Honour Roll (2008).

Born to an outstanding couple, Rohan Jainudeen & Indica Jainudeen (nee Perera), young Shannen started rolling a soccer ball at the tender age of 4 yrs old. What started as a way to just keep their 4yr old daughter entertained, Rohan and Indica never predicted that it would become such a large part of Shannen’s life. They remember the way the 4 yr old would use her tiny feet to juggle a soccer ball and now the young soccer star, through her years of dedication, has blossomed into quite an athlete. Her hard work paved the way for her to enter Ontario’s top soccer team (in 2008) and currently she plays as their Centre Defender.

Shannen, is confident that one day she’ll win Gold at the Canada Games and she doesn’t want to stop there! She wants to represent Canada in the World’s No. 1 game. She also hopes to bring Canada and Sri Lanka honours as she aims at the World gold medal in the field of women’s soccer.

Shannen, is no doubt an excellent example for the youth of today as to what they could achieve in life. If they have a dream and put in the required time and effort to pursue their dreams, it can come true. In addition to her soccer achievements the young lady is also a talented basketball player and was dedicated to volunteering at a March Break camp (2009) with Toronto Parks and Recreation Department.

We wish her much success as she warms up to bring home the “World Gold Medal.”