After Thursday morning’s Louisville City FC training session, Kenny Doublette laid down on plush grass and soaked in sunny, 80-degree weather.
But, he admitted, “It’s tough being here.”
The forward was born and raised in Haiti, where this week Hurricane Matthew became the first Category 4 storm to strike since Cleo in 1964. More than 100 have been reported dead.
Doublette said family left on the island, his uncle and cousins, made it. He knew of others who were injured during the storm’s landfall.
“It’s hard coming to practice and having to put a smile on my face,” Doublette said. “I’m really hurt deep inside. But I’m staying focused. We have a plan to win the championship.”
Doublette and LouCity host the Charleston Battery at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the USL’s Eastern Conference semifinals. The boys in purple are three games away from another league championship for Doublette, who in 2013 helped Southern New Hampshire University to an NCAA Division II national title.
His immediate family came to the United States, settling in Connecticut, when Doublette was 16.
“I lost a lot of friends when the earthquake happened,” he said of the 2010 disaster in Haiti. “I left school that day. I just couldn’t even imagine.”
This week brought back bad memories — and reminded Doublette, “I’m grateful to be here.” Attending college in the United States allowed him to attend school as well, a luxury that doesn’t exist in Haiti.
He has an education now, plus some momentos from the championship run.
“It would be nice — another ring,” Doublette said of LouCity’s USL Cup Playoffs run.
Hurricane Matthew has also affected the visiting team in this weekend’s game at Slugger Field. With the storm tracking toward South Carolina, the Battery moved up their travel to Louisville. The club left Thursday rather than Friday.
“The airline was able to work with us, so we were able to get out of Charleston before Matthew gets here,” coach Mike Anhaeuser told the Post and Courier newspaper. “I think this will also help ease some anxieties with some of the guys who still have family here in town.”
