28 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST STUDENT-ATHLETE PROFILE Ready to Rebound Fully healthy, second-year defender and three-time prep school champion Ajani Banton ’29 is excited for his Mountain Hawks debut. What has been your proudest athletic achievement so far? Three months ago, it would have been one of the [prep school] national championships. Now, itʼs scoring my first senior goal in my second game for the senior menʼs team. You were injured last season. What happened? Three weeks before preseason I broke my fifth metatarsal bone. … I was disappointed because I was out for the season, but the team was super supportive. What is an interesting fact that most people may not know about you? I can play three instruments pretty proficiently, two really well. Iʼm really good at drums, I play the piano and I can also play the guitar. What is the best thing about Lehigh as a university? Everyone at Lehigh, including the coaches, emphasizes being a student-athlete. Itʼs also easier with school when teammates study with you. You have people that are just as dedicated to both academics and athletics.—Stephen Gross Missing his first season at Lehigh due to breaking his fifth metatarsal bone, defender Ajani Banton ʼ29 is poised to make an impact for the Mountain Hawks. Heʼs already done so on the international stage, appearing on the U17 Jamaican National Team and the Barbados U17 and U20 National Teams. He matriculated to Barbadosʼ senior menʼs national team and scored his first goal in his second game at that level in March. Major: Civil engineering How did you become a member of the Jamaican and Barbados national teams? From a young age, I was on the radar for both the Jamaica and Barbados national teams because I have citizenship for both countries. When I was 16, I was a part of the setup and played practice matches with the Jamaican National U17 team. My dad is from Jamaica but my mom is from Barbados, and she really wanted me to play for them. I decided to play for Barbados for the CONCACAF Cup U17 World Cup qualifiers. I loved the team, so I continued with them, eventually matriculating up to U20 and the senior menʼs team. How did you balance Lehigh with the Barbados Senior Menʼs National Team this spring? It was challenging because I was gone from school for a week and a half, so I had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on. I missed a couple of my midterms. Some of my finals were weighted a lot more because I couldnʼt make up all of the midterms, so it was a lot more work than I planned for, but itʼs part of the sacrifice you have to make when youʼre traveling. Did anyone at Lehigh help support you? My coaches were all super accommodative. They reminded me what I needed to get done and helped me stay on task with soccer and school. My professors were great, too. They responded to emails quickly and showed me the right path for makeup work and exams. What are some of the places that youʼve played with those different national teams? Bonaire, Guatemala and Barbados. Iʼve also traveled to Curaçao, Trinidad, Iceland, Spain, France and England with various club teams.
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