Why Demar Phillips wants to repay hometown after tough ascent

TORONTO - When Real Salt Lake players took training on Thursday, they were greeted by the kind of drizzle that clings to clothing and moods. Underneath the dome downtown, Giancarlo Stanton was clubbing home runs over the heads of hapless Toronto Blue Jays, and the locals' patience with a winter dragging its feet was wearing thin.

So Demar Phillips' laid-back and content outlook presented a refreshing change of tone to the city's dreary soundtrack. His positivity is contagious and commendable, given he had to overcome a disadvantaged background to carve a path for himself in soccer, and has seen that route pockmarked by tragedy ever since.

He was a young player making his name at Waterhouse FC when Peter Cargill, a former Jamaican international and head coach at the Kingston-based club, died.

"I didn't travel with the team at that moment, I think I was injured so I was back home," Phillips told theScore. "I got a phone call (explaining) that there was a bad accident - not the team bus, but there was a van with the coaches. It was sad, man. It was sad."

It's the generosity of people like Cargill that makes Phillips feel indebted to his hometown and country. His family was poor so he often went hungry in St. Thomas, and says he "kind of grew up a bit rough." However, without the community spirit in his struggling neighborhood, he may have never made it in the game.

"I was going to Kingston without even a bus fare," he recalled of his early days taking the 45-minute journey to Waterhouse training. "Guys that know me and know that I'm trying to make it in soccer were driving the bus and would give me free rides to get there."

Picked up by Pulis

Waterhouse supporters impressed by Phillips' cameos called for his inclusion immediately, but it wasn't until some teammates were selected in the country's under-23 setup that he was finally given his break.

"I made full use of it, I took full advantage. From that day I never came out of the starting team," he said.

Phillips was playing well. He was a standout for Waterhouse and a regular in the Jamaica squad, making his first appearance as a left-back when he assisted and scored off the bench to inspire a 2-1 win over Canada in 2006. His life then changed completely when he shuffled under the umbrella of the same agent as compatriot Ricardo Fuller. Soon, Fuller's manager at Stoke City, Tony Pulis, was watching Jamaica matches, plotting moves as he prepared for a season that would see the Potters book a place in the top flight. The deal surprised Phillips, but a bigger shock was to come: The agile wing wanderer was getting shelled by long balls and Rory Delap's throw-ins in Pulis' repetitive training sessions.

"It's not the best football club playing-wise," Phillips admitted. "Stoke are known for set-pieces and stuff like that. It was hard to get into the team because of the style of play."

He added: "Tony Pulis is a great man, he's good at what he does, but that's his style."

In a squad featuring strikers with chests like laundry baskets and midfielders who hacked and hoofed, there simply wasn't much room for the enterprising play of Phillips.

He wasn't to go underappreciated for long, and was soon aware of the effort Kjetil Rekdal - described by Phillips as a "top guy in Norway" - was making to sign him for Aalesund.

Phillips, just thankful to play, won two Norwegian cups during his time there. Popular among fans, he was settled for six years in Scandinavia, albeit while missing his daughter.

"Stuff that I used to do like running around, spend this spend that all the time, you kind of have to look at life a different way," Phillips explained of the changes he made when his daughter arrived. Jaydn was aged five, mothered by an ex-girlfriend, and living in Jamaica in 2014 - his final year at Aalesund.

Those days in Norway were likely the best in Phillips' career, but injuries from that spell still lurk and have stuttered periods of his stay with Real Salt Lake, along with short-term contracts that haven't allowed him to genuinely feel at home in Utah. That was until he was blessed with the birth of Demarco in April 2017, a year after suffering a devastating loss of a child to a miscarriage.

"He's not going to be a defender, he's going to be a striker. I want him to bump in some goals," he forecasted for his son, noting his background - American-born, with parents hailing from Jamaica and Venezuela - means plenty of choice in the international game.

'I have to work for everything'

"For me, Demar's that guy who's got a smile on his face," teammate Kyle Beckerman told theScore following Friday's 3-1 defeat at Toronto FC. "I know he went through some really tough times that we all try to get behind him and help him through it, and he really came out of it strong. I'm really happy for him and his missus with their newborn, and they seem like a really happy family."

Phillips credits much of his resolve to his upbringing and feels it is now his duty to give back. For the past four years, he's held a social event from which all proceeds go toward buying computers and other goods for his old school, and he wants to assist the community further by developing property in the area.

"That's what I really want to get into," he said. "I want to be hands-on, I can't go in fully until I'm done in soccer and I can be hands-on in everything."

It might be a while until the 34-year-old hangs up his boots. He's confident that as long as he feels "so young and energetic", he'll always be under contract. Keeping rivals for his place such as Danny Acosta at bay should appear a rather straightforward test considering the hurdles Phillips has vaulted since he was a jovial kid kicking a ball around Tsentemas.

"I like a challenge. It makes me push more," he said. "Nothing comes easy for me. I've never had a handout before. I have to work for everything."

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)