The stuff of dreams. That is how newly-inducted First Citizens Sports Foundation Hall of Famer Shaka Hislop described the opportunity to represent Trinidad and Tobago in international football.
Hislop was among 15 former T&T sportsmen being honoured for their contribution to national sport at the Foundation's Induction Ceremony, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, on Thursday night.
The former T&T custodian, who stood between the uprights for T&T's World Cup debut at Germany 2006, said that awards were not his motivation for playing football.
"It's not the reason we played the game," he stated following the ceremony. "Awards and everything were not in our minds. Representing the national team was the stuff of dreams."
Still, it is an honour Hislop will cherish, although he thinks he was lucky in his career to achieve so much.
"It's an honour to be inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame regardless of where and when it started," he reflected. "It's an achievement that many people have to take credit for.
"Although this is an individual award, I accept it on behalf of the thousands of people who influenced who I am," Hislop added.
The FPATT (Football Players Association of T&T) president attributed his long career to determination and desire to play the game.
"It's not simply about Saturday, it's not about 90 minutes. You have to pick yourself up from the low points...The players who last the longest are the players who continually pick themselves up from their low points and take the criticisms that come with bad performances."
Hislop also expressed the opinion that the national team's current form was more about the "natural transition" of the team from the previous World Cup campaign than the off-the-field issues they have faced in the past two years.
"There's always gonna be patches where things aren't going well," Hislop offered. "(Just look at) how the team coped with (the failed) '89 (World Cup campaign), and how it took us some 16 years to recover. I hope it doesn't take that long this time," Hislop said.
The high point of the goalkeeper's career was standing in goal at the World Cup for T&T.
"Just hearing our national anthem playing in Germany," he revealed, "that was more rewarding for me than the result we got (0-0 in against Sweden)."