Jorel Bellafonte (born 2 March 1995) is a

Caymanian Caymanians are the status holders or born citizens of the Cayman Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, citizens of the Cayman Islands will hold British Overseas Territories Citizenship. There is no record of a native people to the Cayman ...

former track athlete, and current

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Academy SC and the Cayman Islands national team.

Athletic career

Belafonte was a formerly a 800m and 1500m athlete, while at high school in Jamaica. He attended

Calabar High School Calabar High School is an All-boys school, all-male secondary school in Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. It was established by the Jamaica Baptist Union in 1912 for the children of Baptist ministers. It was named after the Kalabari Kingdom ...

, where he won individual medals at the

Inter-Secondary Schools Boys and Girls Championships The ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships (better known as Champs) is an annual Jamaican high school track and field meet held by Jamaica's Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association. The five day event, held during the last week before ...

in Jamaica, as well as team medals with his high school at the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

, winning the relay in 2014. He then went on to become a Clemson Tiger at university, moving down to the 400mH. On the international stage, he represented the Cayman Islands at the

CARIFTA Games The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games were first held in 1972 and consist of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track ev ...

on several occasions. He holds the national Caymanian indoor 800m record, with a time of 1:52.21 on a regular indoor track, and 1:51.82 on and oversized track (OT).

International football career

On 5 September 2019, Bellafonte made his debut against the

US Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a Territories of the United States, territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Isl ...

in a 0–2 victory in the

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League (, ) is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its secondary continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament takes pla ...

. On 8 September 2019, he scored his first goal for Cayman Islands against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

in a 3–2 victory.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list the Cayman Islands' goal tally first.''

References

1995 births Living people Men's association football forwards Caymanian men's footballers Roma United SC players Cayman Islands Premier League players Cayman Islands men's international footballers People educated at Calabar High School 21st-century British sportsmen Clemson Tigers men's track and field athletes Caymanian male sprinters Caymanian middle-distance runners Caymanian male hurdlers {{Caymans-footy-bio-stub