Jorel Bellafonte seemed destined to become one of the Caribbean’s top middle-distance runners after impressing for Calabar High at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships. However, he wanted to live out his true dream and did so, successfully transitioning into football and construction.

Cayman Islands-born Bellafonte contributed to Calabar’s success as they won the Boys’ title in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The 31-year-old dominated the 1,500 metres, capturing both the class one and class two titles during his stint. Bellafonte is also regarded as a trailblazer after becoming the first non-Jamaican athlete to win a gold medal at Champs.

His performances earned him a scholarship to Clemson University in the USA and by age 21, he was the Cayman junior and senior record holder in the 800m and 1,500m.

Despite all his success in the sport, Bellafonte had no intentions of making a career out of it after leaving university.

“I didn’t really enjoy track and field, I was kind of forced to do it,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “I always knew that track and field was not the sport that I wanted to do professionally because I understood from a very early age that the business of the sport, you don’t really make a lot of money in it and I don’t think it’s fair, because the amount of time that you have to invest in it versus the amount of money that you pay, the reward isn’t equal to the effort that you put into it.”

Instead, he turned his attention to his first love – football. A decision that paid off greatly as he earned a call-up to Cayman’s national team in 2019.

“I was young enough and I was still in shape so when I came home, I wanted to play football and I did. It’s all I did for the first year or so. I trained really hard, and I was selected by the national team and I took it from there,” Bellafonte said.

“It was something that I kind of had in my pocket ever since I was a teenager because I knew I really wanted to give football a try in the same way that I gave track and field a try.”

Bellafonte was the country’s trusted forward as he made his debut, playing 65 minutes in a 2-0 win over the US Virgin Islands in the Concacaf Nations League in September 2019.

Things would only get better for him four days later as he scored the winning goal as Cayman beat Barbados 3-2.

“It’s my favourite moment representing Cayman in any sport — it was blissful,” said Bellafonte. “It was me realising a dream that I had as a child but because I was invested in track and field, I really couldn’t do it. To start and to score for the country, obviously, that’s a bonus.

“It was just a coming-of-age moment where I always believed that I was a good football player so to be selected, you get that sense of self-actualisation and validation from the country itself. My father was at that game and that was the first time I ever played for Cayman at any level. It was a great feeling, the best feeling ever.”

He would go on to earn two more caps while playing club football locally.

Now retired, Bellafonte, named Caricom Youth Ambassador in 2020, credits his time at the Red Hills Road school for his current path. It inspired him to start a fund in honour of his former coach, Nicholas “Soapman” Neufville, to support the track and field team.

“Everything about my life for the last two years has been about my company. I want to be the greatest contractor my country has ever seen, I would like for my company to be a beacon in the industry and this is something that I really want to do for the rest of my life,” he said. “In so many ways, it feels like redemption. It feels like all of the failures that I had led me to this.”

Bellafonte said his experiences at the Red Hills Road-based school have been crucial to where he is now. It’s one of the reasons he started a fund, named in honour of his former coach Nicholas “Soapman” Neufville, to support the track and field team.

“Calabar has done a lot for me. When I went there leaving the Cayman Islands, I was very shy. I didn’t really have the confidence to even think about achieving a certain level of success,” he said.

“Calabar taught me consistency, discipline, the importance of sacrifice, how to be a man — a lot of the lessons that I applied to my life every day, I learned at the school.”

After successfully pivoting from athletics, Bellafonte is hoping Calabar’s current and future track stars can follow suit.

“I really just want them to know that it might not be track and field. If you really look at it, less than 1 per cent of the Champs’ stardom actually go on to become world beaters. It’s a very small percentage,” he said.

“However, you can make it in other areas and you can live very well. That’s the biggest thing I really want to give to Calabar. I don’t know how to do it but hopefully God bless me with the wisdom to figure that out.”

Former Calabar High “Champs” star Jorel Bellafonte (left), the Caricom Youth Ambassador, and Cayman Islands Education Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly in 2020.