Early Years
Jermaine Pennant was born in The Meadows area of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. His father was of Jamaican descent, his mother is British. His father Gary was a semi-professional footballer who inspired Pennant to play. His mother died from cancer when he reached three years of age. As a result, he helped raise his younger siblings, two sisters and one brother. Pennant recalls how as a child his favorite toy was a football, and how it rarely left his side.
Pennant, who grew up in a crime and drug infested neighborhood, credits football for saving him from a life of crime. When he was 14, he moved away from home and was living with YTS players who were 16,17, and 18. Notts County provided Pennant a safe haven.
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Famous quotes containing the words early years, early and/or years:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
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