Sports Development Foundation

SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2021 42 BUNKERS HILL Bunkers Hill, Trelawny Foundation (SDF), Denzil Wilks, who was then the president of Uniques, Hutchinson was sent off to Clarendon College under the tutelage of legend- ary schoolboy coachWinston Chung Fah to compete in the daCosta Cup. “We managed to contact Winston Chung Fah, who was then the coach of Clarendon College, and we literally shipped him off. With his brilliance, Clarendon College won the daCosta Cup and ultimately the Olivier Shield,” Wilks outlined. Powered by Hutchinson’s goals, Clarendon College stormed into the final of the daCosta Cup competition, to faceoff against St ElizabethTechnical HighSchool.Theschool fromChapelton secured a two-nil victory in the first of the two-leg affair and entered the sec- ondmatch as favourites. MISDIRECTION But there was a challenge. Hutchinson, their star player, arrived at thematch with a heavily bandaged left thigh, and sat on the bench to start the game. St Elizabeth pounced on their wounded rivals and scored an early goal to take a 1-0 lead in the return fixture. Coach Chung Fah signalled to Hutchinson and told him to undo his bandages. To the disbelief of the St Elizabeth Technical fan base, Hutchinson came on and guided his team to a 3-1 victory, winning the competition 5-1 on aggregate. Why did Coach Chung Fah opt for misdirection with his star player? Hutchinson offers this explanation. “Everybody had seen me before, walking and I was okay. And then Chung Fah came up with this plan to wrap me up and get them (St Elizabeth) vulnerable. He played it out like it was a show, he asked a couple of his supporters to wrap me up, from waist down on to the left foot. I was to play it off like a movie, tip on my toe and act like I was really hurt. When Chung Fah unwrapped me, it was pandemo- nium,” Hutchinson laughed. “In hindsight I should have asked him, ‘why did you wrap me up like that?’ But Chungy is full of those types of theatrics. I guess him press the right button at the time.” This victory helped Hutchinson earn an athletic scholarship to a col- lege in the United States. This is where one would hope the story ends with Hutchinson taking advantage of the opportunity to go on and become a top-tier footballer in America. However, it was not to be. Due to some personal missteps, Hutchinson spent time in prison, and subse- quently was sent back to Jamaica to restart his life. HELP AND REDEMPTION This story does not have a sad end- ing, however, as Hutchinson landed squarely on his feet. For the past 22 years he has been workingwith the SDC to lendahelping hand to the poor and vulnerable. “One of the things that drives me most of all is to help people to move from being in dire need to being in a better position. I feel good about helping them move their lives from point A to point B,” he said. Perhaps even more impressively, Hutchinson, with financial support from the SDF’s Athletes Welfare Programme, was able to complete the tertiary education he had begun decades earlier. General Manager of the SDF Denzil Wilks explained: “We had discussions ... and I said to him, you started uni- versity overseas, you got to a certain point you would have earned some credit. Is there a possibility of you get- ting those credits and seeing whether you can complete your studies? We communicated with G.C. Foster, and the SDF’s board of directors saw it fit to give him some financial assistance to get into G.C. Foster College.” Hutchinson says it was difficult going back into the classroom after all those years, but he persevered and is on the brink of earning a bache- lor’s degree in sports education. This is another record in the making. A degree that has taken over 40 years to complete. A sterling lesson in perseverance and the benefits of a support structure. Today, he remains focused on lend- ing support to those in need and is happy his story can motivate others to bounce back from life’s challenges and create new opportunities, where none seemed available. ‘DEN DEN’ CONTINUED FROM 33 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS