Formerly of the Portland Timbers and Houston Dynamo, Jamaican defender Lovel Palmer joined RSL this offseason when he was picked up by the Claret-and-Cobalt in Stage II of the MLS Re-Entry Draft.
As told to Sam Stejskal:
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I’m really enjoying Utah so far. Salt Lake’s a really good city, I can see the sun everyday – or most days – and that’s a lot different than Portland, so I’m definitely enjoying it.
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To be honest, I’ve never been in an atmosphere like the one here. If you’re willing to work, the coaches are willing to work with you – they never take a day off. The players are great guys, too. Everyone gives advice, tries to make you a better player and that transfers over to the team performance.
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As the people say here, it really is a RSL family. I don’t feel as if it’s a team, it’s a family. Everyone is really friendly, guys hang out outside the locker room and it’s just great. It’s no doubt part of the reason why the team has been so successful over the years because it’s a family, it’s truly close knit.
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[RSL Head Scout] Andy Williams and I played together a little bit with the Jamaican national team in 2005 when he was the captain in the Gold Cup. He’s someone I look up to, someone I really respect for what he’s done on and off the pitch.
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[RSL midfielder] Khari Stephenson’s a good friend of mine, as well. I’ve known him for years; I hang out with him a lot in the offseason in Jamaica, train with him there and stuff like that.
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It’s really nice to have Andy and Khari here with me, but the way the rest of the guys are they make you feel at home, too. Everyone wants to learn about your culture and you try to learn a bit about theirs also. One of the guys I’ve gotten along with really well is Kyle [Beckerman], who’s definitely a bit multicultural and somewhat of an honorary Jamaican.
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A lot of people don’t know that I played against Real Salt Lake in 2005 with Harbour View. The game was up at Rice-Eccles, I was the captain for my team and scored the goal in the 1-1 draw.
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It’s funny, a couple of my friends back home were talking to me after RSL picked me up and they were telling me that I was destined to come here. I actually have a shirt from that 2005 game, I tweeted a picture of it out, it’s the first RSL jersey, I don’t know whose it was, but it’s great knowing that there’s a little bit of history between myself and RSL.
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I was definitely thinking about MLS back in 2005, but I didn’t even think about playing for Real. I was just playing semi-pro in Jamaica, I didn’t think I would be here. But when I got the call this winter that I was picked up by RSL – a team that I always looked up to – I was like, ‘Wow, how great.’
- I’ve haven’t gotten up into the mountains much, but I just went to my first Jazz game with Khari last week. It was a lot of fun, but I’m still waiting for Kyle to take me fishing. That’s something I picked up when I was in Portland and I knew that he likes the outdoors and loves fishing, so I’m still waiting for him to take me.
