Rivoli United's Devon Hodges

The name Devon Hodges may not immediately ring a bell, but he is the leading goalscorer in the Digicel Premier League, scoring 17 goals to date for Spanish Town-based Rivoli United.

The 25-year-old Hodges, who has netted seven goals at home and 10 in his team's away matches, sits three goals ahead of Roland Dean of Tivoli Gardens (14) and Peter Keyes of Boys' Town (13).

"It's just hard work and dedication," Hodges said. "I train hard, sometimes by myself when I have the time. I also do a lot of tactical work to stay on top of my game," he said.

The St Ann native started playing football while attending Brown's Town Primary School. During his sojourn there he honed his skills in the parish's under-12 leagues.

"It was just the love for the game that I began playing at about age seven," he said.

After primary school Hodges moved on to Brown's Town High and played four seasons in the daCosta Cup. The team failed to reach the play-offs to participate in the inter-zone rounds and Hodges hung up his boots for a while.

In fifth form he resumed his game and joined Lewis Strikers in Division One. He stayed with the team for three seasons, going with them up to the Super League finals but, unfortunately, they did not make it to the National League.

Hodges later made the move to Wadadah and finally found his footing at Rivoli United.

Since then, he has played seven seasons with the St Catherine-based team.

Hodges is fully dedicated to Rivoli.

"I don't want to go to another club and my goalscoring stops. I will try to stay at Rivoli and develop my game," he said.

The talented forward also has his eyes set on playing for the Reggae Boyz team and obtaining an overseas contract.

"I would like to get a contract overseas in any one of the countries. I just have to keep on working hard and scoring goals," Hodges said.

Motivation

His main sources of motivation are his mother, who is now deceased, and his four-year old son.

"My mother always wanted to see me do good and my son is always happy when I go out there and do well," he said.

Hodges is also encouraging business interests to support football in the western region.

"Football in the western region is not getting enough support in terms of funding and sponsorship. We have the players to attract sponsorship. Most of the better players in the island right now are from the country areas," he said.

He is also confident that despite his team being in eighth place in the League, on 37 points, and are desperately trying to avoid relegation, they were in the league to stay.

"Rivoli are playing good football. It's just that we need to get more consistent in winning matches. We are in this league to compete and I don't see us dropping out right now," he said.