 After high school, he received an athletic scholarship for soccer to Howard University in Washington D.C.He was a part of the Mid-Continent Conference championship winning Howard University Bison team in 1998 and runners-up in 1997, picking up several scholar/athlete awards during his four-year playing career.After arriving back to Bermuda in 2000, Shakir had very brief stints at some clubs before eventually returning to his boyhood team PHC Zebras, where he consistently played for many years in the Bermudian Premier Division winning.