Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s track and field career has brought her many accolades but her passion for her community of Waterhouse has brought one of her greatest memories, peace through football.

The Pocket Rocket Foundation, founded and chaired by Fraser-Pryce, recently concluded the ninth staging of its Six-A-Side competition at the Red Stripe Field where debutants ‘Friends for Real’ claimed the title. The tournament, which kicked off in October, was a record year with 20 participating teams which, for the first time, included corporate sponsors Red Stripe and Fesco. The top three teams also walked away with a combined $600,000.

The initiative began in 2012 in hopes that the crime in the Drewsland area, home of the two-time Olympic champion and five-time world champion, would see a significant decline.

Fraser-Pryce told the Jamaica Observer that over a decade later, the objective has been met.

“We’ve always had, for the last nine editions, teams coming together and having discipline, following rules and learning to coexist with each other and understanding when it comes to football, we play it on the field and whatever happens on the field, stays on the field,” she said. “We’ve had friendships, we’ve had players changing teams and corporate merging with the community — which speaks a lot to what we have here.”

Despite her busy schedule of athletics, family, and business, Fraser-Pryce attended virtually every match week of the two-month-long tournament. She says her time with the teams was more valuable than her resources.

“It’s about interest and a lot of people throw cash at things and think that solves problem but it doesn’t,” she said. “It’s having them to see that I am interested in not just the finals but in group stages, quarter-finals, and semi-finals because not every team will make it to the finals but you still want to be there and show them you’re here to support and interested in the way forward for them.”

Since winning Olympic gold in 2008, Fraser-Pryce has claimed multiple medals across various championships while becoming one of the fastest women in history.

She hopes that her work with the tournament will enable members of her community to overcome their circumstances, just like she did.

“Growing up in Waterhouse, I’ve been privileged to be tough, have grit and perseverance,” she said. “What I’ve also learnt is a lot of us just need a chance. We need the platform, we need the help and we need persons to believe in us.

“For me, that’s always what I want to bring to the community — believing that there’s individuals here that just need a chance. So, I’m looking forward to just growing with the community and helping to produce more individuals from this competition.”

Fraser-Pryce says she will consider expanding the tournament to an islandwide structure in the future.

“It’s something we can explore but it’s the time frame,” she said. “I don’t have a lot of time with everything that’s happening in this particular period, which makes it difficult to host more teams but that’s something we can look at and hopefully we can bring it to the summer and increase the number of teams.”