Duke_and_jack_first_draft
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00:00 - Right, my name's Duke Harrison Hunter.
00:02 I live in Hampshire, Portsmouth, Hampshire.
00:05 So I've been here probably 16 years now,
00:08 and probably 17 years ago, I was mad as hell.
00:13 I was chaotic.
00:15 I was in and out of prison.
00:17 I was an addict.
00:19 I was on heroin.
00:20 I was on crack cocaine.
00:22 Anything that you could give for me to get high,
00:25 I would take it.
00:26 So that's where I was,
00:28 and I got to the point where I lost everything.
00:32 I had money, I had nice cars,
00:35 I had a beautiful girlfriend, bought a flat,
00:38 everything was flying, everything was nice,
00:40 but the drugs just got in between it all,
00:43 and basically just destroyed it all.
00:46 So I ended up losing my car,
00:49 ended up selling my car to the drug dealer.
00:52 It's always been on me to buy it.
00:54 And I've gone, "No, no, no, no,
00:55 "not selling it, not selling it."
00:57 So he wanted my car,
00:59 so the drug dealer gave me three grand.
01:02 I gave him my car.
01:03 But then I spent the three grand he gave me with him.
01:08 - Oh, God.
01:09 (laughing)
01:11 - So we ended up getting a free car and his money back,
01:14 because that's how powerful the drugs are.
01:16 So I ended up homeless.
01:18 I ended up on the streets.
01:20 I ended up living in crack houses,
01:22 bandos all over the place.
01:25 I was in a proper mess,
01:27 and lost my girlfriend, lost my home.
01:30 All I had was a bin liner full of clothes, that was it,
01:35 wandering up and down the streets.
01:36 And I had many jobs, little jobs here and there,
01:39 but I could never keep them,
01:41 because I had no role model,
01:42 no one to put an arm around me,
01:44 no one to say, "Duke, what are you doing?
01:45 "This is bad."
01:47 My mum had left me at the age of nine.
01:49 My dad, I'd left home at 16, so I was on my own.
01:55 So, and I think I went through child trauma,
01:57 abandonment issues, resentment,
02:01 my dad abusing us, like physically,
02:03 going through all that, (growling)
02:05 just hated everybody.
02:07 So I was on destruct mode, don't care.
02:11 Yeah, "Wanna go out in the zoos?"
02:12 Yeah, sweet, well, raving all over the country,
02:16 just on it, waking up somewhere in the countryside,
02:21 been raving from Thursday to Sunday,
02:23 don't even know where I am.
02:25 And then the following week,
02:26 somebody gets some money to give up,
02:28 I just kept going, I had no responsibility, didn't care.
02:31 And I think the issue was, I didn't like who I was.
02:36 Duke didn't like Duke,
02:37 because everybody else was getting on fine,
02:40 and I just, like, my life was rubbish, so to speak.
02:44 So I was trying to destroy even more,
02:47 because I didn't care.
02:51 It's really hard, because I get, like, a moment of clarity,
02:55 when I think, I think I was 44,
02:58 and I was sitting in Belmarsh,
02:59 and I'm thinking, "Can't keep doing this.
03:03 "I'm 44, for God's sake, and I'm sitting in prison."
03:06 And all I'm doing sitting in prison
03:11 is wishing I was outside.
03:12 Banged up 22 hours a day, just looking out the window,
03:16 going, "Wish I was outside."
03:19 So, went through treatment, that saved me,
03:22 and I'd done a lot of work on myself, like I said before.
03:26 Then I got myself a job, and when I gave the lady my DBS,
03:31 she looked at it and she went,
03:33 "Ooh, do you know what?
03:36 "I'm gonna give you a chance."
03:37 I went, "Okay."
03:39 So I thought she was going,
03:40 "No, sorry, we can't employ you."
03:41 And then from that day, really respected that lady.
03:44 She went, "Yeah, you can work for us."
03:46 And I worked with young people.
03:49 One-to-one mentoring.
03:50 And it's that lady that gave me the chance.
03:54 So from that day, I thought, "You know what?
03:55 "I'm not messing up again," because that was too close.
03:59 So I worked for them for six years.
04:00 And then I worked for a company in Portsmouth
04:04 for another five or six years, youth group.
04:08 And then over to Pompidou Community,
04:13 who basically saved me.
04:17 So I saved myself by going to treatment
04:21 because that's a massive decision I had to make.
04:24 It was either drugs, withdrawal, or prison,
04:29 or a mental institution.
04:35 So I only had those options left.
04:37 Well, or under the ground.
04:46 Can't be doing none of those.
04:48 So I need to get my head down, get focused,
04:50 do some training, go to work,
04:53 and become a productive member of society.
04:55 And that's what I did.
04:56 When I, 18 months after starting with Portsmouth,
04:58 I won the Football Blacklist Award.
05:00 Now, the Football Blacklist Award is an awarding body
05:04 that's been around probably for about 10, 12 years.
05:07 The founder, Leon Mann, MBE, and Rodney Hines
05:11 founded this body of an award called the Football Blacklist.
05:15 And what it does, it celebrates black excellence in sport.
05:20 That's male and female.
05:21 Only man of color to have won it in Hampshire.
05:26 First man of color to have won it.
05:28 I received a letter from Michael Eisner,
05:32 who's the owner of Portsmouth Football Club.
05:35 Got an email from his secretary from California
05:37 to say, "Oh, Michael says congratulations
05:40 and wants to send you a letter.
05:41 Can we have your address?"
05:41 I go, "Wow."
05:44 Okay, I sent the address, the letter's up there,
05:46 sent it to me, handwritten.
05:48 - So, when you were there at the AGEA's Bowl,
05:52 or even at the Blacklist Awards,
05:55 how did it make you feel looking back
05:58 and reflecting from where you came from
06:00 into where you are now?
06:02 - Looking back, it's gone really quickly.
06:04 I thought, "Where's all this time gone?
06:06 I'm 16 years in.
06:09 Where has that gone?
06:10 Now I'm getting awards.
06:12 What happened there?"
06:14 I'm only doing what I'm passionate about.
06:17 Didn't do it for an award,
06:18 but it makes me feel that I am being recognized
06:23 for what I am doing.
06:26 Not that I don't, not that I do it for recognition.
06:29 I do it for someone to go, "You know what?
06:30 That was great work."
06:32 Like that.
06:33 Fine.
06:34 Getting awards, even bigger still.
06:37 But to be amongst people, other award winners,
06:40 as a man of color as well,
06:42 I think, "Yeah, I can do this."
06:45 And it's not hard, if that makes any sense.
06:48 I'm just being true, doing what I do,
06:52 love people.
06:53 I'm not afraid of people.
06:55 Just doing what I do.
06:58 You've got the awards.
07:00 It's a good feeling.
07:01 It's a good feeling.
07:02 'Cause I'm not getting any younger.
07:03 I'm 60 years of age now.
07:05 And I think because I left it too late to come off drugs,
07:11 I'm only, even though I'm 60 years of age,
07:15 I'm only 16.
07:16 I've only been awake for 16 years.
07:20 So I'm playing catch up almost,
07:24 but I'm getting older.
07:26 So the more I'm catching up,
07:28 the older I'm getting.
07:30 So I need to do more.
07:31 And as much as I can do whilst I've got breath in my body,
07:37 keep myself fit, I'll just carry on.
07:41 Yeah, it's no biggie.
07:43 As long as people accept me, I'll just carry on.
07:45 - We met up with 18 year old Jack Churcher,
07:51 one of the many teenagers that Duke took on under his wing.
07:54 - 14 at the time, when we first met.
08:00 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:01 - And then turned 15 halfway through.
08:04 - Yeah, and then COVID hit.
08:05 - Yeah, and then COVID hit.
08:07 - So halfway through that,
08:08 we were claiming for what, assessment?
08:13 Well, I suspect you and your mum, didn't they?
08:14 - Yeah. - At that time.
08:15 Talking about behaviours, talking about...
08:18 School was affected as well, wasn't it?
08:20 - Yeah, school was really affected that time.
08:22 - So what was happening at school?
08:24 It was, was it non-attendance?
08:25 - Non-attendance.
08:26 So I just couldn't be bothered to go,
08:27 to get up and go.
08:28 - Yeah, yeah.
08:29 - I'd rather stay in bed all day.
08:30 - Yeah, yeah.
08:31 Wow.
08:32 - I mean, for most younger people,
08:34 when I was like 10,
08:36 you want to become a professional footballer.
08:39 - Mm.
08:40 - But for me, that's what I wanted.
08:43 But when I started growing up and being older and older,
08:46 it changed to become a coach.
08:48 - Yeah, yeah.
08:49 - To help young people.
08:49 - Yeah, yeah, brilliant.
08:50 I think you're a brilliant coach.
08:53 And you've done the introduction,
08:54 you've done the playmakers for us.
08:55 - Which I need to redo that soon.
08:58 - Yeah, yeah.
08:58 - At the end of October.
08:59 - Okay.
09:01 And then, now you're at college.
09:03 - Finished.
09:04 - Finished college, but you're 18 now.
09:06 - Yes, 18.
09:07 - Yeah, damn remarkable.
09:08 Look at the size of you, you just got shot up.
09:11 - I know.
09:12 - But to be fair, you've been one of the most,
09:15 like, studious, regular, on time,
09:20 young person that I've come across
09:23 on the programs I've been mentoring.
09:24 A lot of them, will come one or two weeks,
09:27 and they're ringing up saying they can't make it.
09:29 Next week, can't make it, can't make it, can't make it.
09:31 Then they'll see them again.
09:33 But you turned up every single week and done all the work.
09:36 I think your fire was like that,
09:38 of work that we've done together.
09:40 - Well, I used to be like,
09:42 back in primary school, I'd be excluded.
09:44 'Cause I had behavior problems there as well.
09:47 - Can you tell us what you got up to
09:50 during primary school that got you excluded?
09:53 - I used to not go into any lessons.
09:56 Sometimes I used to fight with the other kids
09:58 to get myself excluded for like a week or two.
10:00 - Yeah, yeah, yeah, self-sabotage.
10:02 - Yeah.
10:03 - 'Cause a lot of the kids in some of the secondary schools,
10:06 instead of going to their class,
10:08 they just walk around the school.
10:09 - I used to do that.
10:10 - Yeah.
10:11 - I used to walk, I used to bunk lessons.
10:12 - Yeah.
10:12 - Until I'd get caught.
10:13 - Yeah, did you have teachers kind of just walking around
10:15 trying to find you?
10:16 - There used to be no teachers.
10:18 You walked down one bit of corridor,
10:19 you see a teacher, they see you,
10:20 you got to turn back around and try and find some--
10:22 - Yeah, yeah, try and avoid them.
10:23 - Try and avoid them, try and find somewhere
10:25 where you're not gonna get spotted.
10:26 - Yeah.
10:27 But so do you think the mentoring helped you?
10:31 - Yeah, 100%.
10:32 - Yeah?
10:32 - Yeah.
10:33 - That's good.
10:34 - Tell us a little bit more about that.
10:35 I mean, when you first met Duke,
10:37 tell us a little about that little interaction.
10:41 What did you think of Duke when you first saw him?
10:45 - When I first met Duke, I sort of was like,
10:48 he's someone here that can help me
10:50 with a lot of other coaches as well.
10:53 And when I first got told about it,
10:55 I didn't really want to do it.
10:57 But then when I started,
10:58 when I attended the first session,
10:59 I thought to myself, this would be good for me
11:01 after the problems I've had in school.
11:04 And Duke being here will help me get to where I am now.
11:08 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:09 So the fact, 'cause I remember saying to you
11:11 when we had a meeting with your mum and yourself,
11:14 and I sort of said to you,
11:15 the fact that I'm a black man,
11:17 does that affect the mentoring at all in any way?
11:19 The fact that I'm a man, would you like to be mentored by me?
11:22 And he just automatically just went, yeah, fine.
11:24 And then we started to follow me, I think,
11:26 something like that.
11:27 - Yeah.
11:28 When you meet one clan,
11:30 you just know you're just going to click.
11:32 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:33 It's like, you sure we haven't worked together
11:35 in the same circus somewhere?
11:37 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:38 Yeah, funny.
11:39 But we would meet, what, once a week, twice a week?
11:42 - Once a week to begin with,
11:47 but when I'm slowly coming to the end,
11:48 it'd be once every two weeks.
11:50 - Yeah, that's right.
11:52 Or I would come to one of your sessions
11:54 and watch you play football.
11:55 He's quite a talented footballer as well.
11:57 He's got all the kit, all the boots,
12:00 comes here fully racked.
12:02 - The amount of boots and kits I've gone through
12:04 over the years is unbearable.
12:06 For young kids like my age,
12:09 trying to find a job is harder
12:11 'cause we have no experience,
12:13 but the people that are older than us
12:15 have the experience to get the job that we want to get.
12:18 Somehow.
12:19 Whereas you've got people that are in their 20s
12:22 that are still struggling to find jobs,
12:24 'cause there's younger people and older people
12:26 getting them beforehand.
12:28 - Or even university students,
12:30 some struggle to get work.
12:32 Even after they've graduated, some struggle
12:35 and probably can't find a career that they want to do.
12:40 Yeah, it's tough.
12:41 - That's why I get tough.
12:43 The best way to start is somewhere like retail
12:45 or McDonald's so you have that experience
12:48 when your dream job becomes available for you to have.
12:51 After spending time with him,
12:54 it made my things easier knowing that
12:57 if I was sort of in trouble,
12:59 he's there to help me get back at it
13:01 and actually give him a text or a call
13:03 or ask to meet up with him.
13:04 - How vital would you say that was,
13:08 that bond that you had with Julian Sinsley?
13:10 - Really vital to have the bond with Duke.
13:13 - We still have that.
13:14 - Yeah, we still have that.
13:15 - Yeah, we still have that.
13:16 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:17 Still have that.
13:17 And then we bumped into down the road.
13:20 Yay!
13:21 Yeah.
13:23 And for me to be able to like
13:26 see someone turn it around like Jack
13:30 is worth more than money.
13:31 So you get the young person,
13:34 come with whatever they come with,
13:36 they do the work.
13:37 That's all they have to do is just do the work with you.
13:40 Turn up.
13:41 That's the hardest thing they have to do is turn up.
13:45 Turn up, do the work,
13:47 and slowly you start seeing a twinkle in their eye
13:50 that they're turning it around and they're getting it.
13:52 They're starting to get it now.
13:53 They're like, "Oh, right.
13:54 "Yeah, that's what I need to be doing."
13:56 Look now, big grown man.
13:58 - Where do you see yourself in like, say,
14:02 two, three years down the line?
14:04 - Probably working alongside him
14:06 in the two, three years time.
14:08 And helping what he's done to get to where I am,
14:11 following in his footsteps for someone else
14:13 to be, to get to that.
14:15 - That sort of support other young people.
14:16 - Yeah.
14:17 - Yeah, nice.
14:18 Nice.
14:19 That's good.
14:21 - Pass it on, pay it forward.
14:23 - Yeah, yeah.
14:24 And I think people like Jack
14:28 and other young people that I've worked with
14:30 could make good mentors.
14:33 - So he's experienced it himself?
14:35 - Yeah, perfect mentors.
14:37 So, and if there was a way we could channel
14:40 all of that street knowledge and experience
14:43 into some training to be mentors,
14:46 we'd have a lot more.
14:48 We'd have a lot more mentors with lived experiences.
14:51 Yeah, we'd have a lot more.
14:53 When you think about it,
14:55 it's the young person who's doing the work.
14:58 I'm only giving them the tools.
15:00 So it's down for them to open the bag,
15:02 grab the tools and use them.
15:05 Once you get them to do that,
15:07 everything just falls into place.
15:10 And before you know it, it's carrying the bag himself.
15:12 And then they go on to give the other person advice
15:17 or guidance, so to speak,
15:19 on what they've been through or seen the light
15:21 or woken up or whatever it might be.
15:24 That's really, really good when you see a young person
15:26 giving another young person advice.
15:29 (silence)
15:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]