‘I am coming back with a medal’

A NEW lease on life for Happy Grove High’s Courtney Williams resulted in a rewarding conclusion to his high-school career, not only for himself but for his family, coach and school community, who he has put on the map once more.

Williams returned to the island as a Carfita Games champion, winning the boys’ octathlon with 5253 points.

It was an opportunity that he thought he would never have after suffering heartbreak three weeks ago at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

Outside of the euphoria of Kingston College’s Isaiah Patrick winning the title in a new Champs record, 6969 points, Willaims faced the sadness of narrowly missing the podium, finishing in fourth place.

The placing meant his dream for a Carifta place initially evaporated, something that his coach, Damion Reid, said shattered him.

“That was horrible because we worked very hard for a medal and we missed it by 90 points,” Reid told The Sunday Gleaner. “He wasn’t sure that he would have gotten a chance to prove himself again.”

“When I came fourth, I cried. I cried because if I came in the top three, I would have made the Carifta team,” Williams reflected.

Happy Grove had not had a student compete at the Carifta Games since Akino Ming in 2006, nearly 20 years ago. But because of eligibility concerns for the top three, according to Reid, Williams got an unexpected second chance to prove himself.

CONFIDENT

Despite initially being nervous, Reid was encouraged by Williams’s confidence during the event.

“When I hugged him at the airport he said to me, ‘I am coming back with a medal’. Seeing that he missed one at Champs, he believed in himself so much, carrying the school community, carrying his family, that big expectation of getting a second chance,” Reid said.

“He would have made mistakes and he would have learned and he would have understood how to deal with it. He got a second chance and redeemed himself on the big stage. That is really the crowning moment to see how he would have grown through all of that. That, for me, says a lot.”

That confidence, Willaims said, was a result of how battle-tested he was during the season.

“Here in Jamaica, it is very, very competitive. In the Bahamas it was competitive but I was expecting more there. When I finished the fourth event and I got the news that I was tied for first, that built my confidence more and motivated me to go and do my best,” Williams said.

That belief has culminated in success for Williams and for Reid, whose decathlon programme at Happy Grove is in its second year.

“It is a pride and joy to know all these people can see us in the community not knowing what we were doing but at the end of it where Courtney said ‘this is what I want and I’m going to show them that I can do it’,” Reid said.

“Coach Reid is like a father to me and my mother has been working with me to get to this point. I could not ask for anything better from both of them,” said Williams.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com