Friday, September 13, 2024

20 THE WEEKEND STAR SPORTS • September 13 - 15, 2024 @JamaicaStar www.facebook.com/JamaicaStar • www.jamaica-star.com ASHLEY ANGUIN STAR Writer M ay Day High will be hoping to win their first match against Manchester High School in the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup football competition at 3.30 p.m. today at May Day High School in Manchester. Uel Thompson, coach of May Day High, said that he doesn’t consider his team as underdogs for the matchup against their traditional rivals. “I don’t know where they get that phrase from, but I never believe in those things. We are coming out to do our best and put up a fight until the end. The better team will win. There is no situation where I ever considered my team as the underdog,” reiterated Thompson, who has been the school’s coach for three years. “When I came to May Day, I got these groups of boys and they came out for trials. I was told some of the boys can play. I had to bring them back to basics, teaching them to control, pass, create space, and move into space. Football is an art, so I had to teach them that,” he explained. According to Thompson, the team has not gotten past the first round since competing in the daCosta Cup, but expectations are high this season. Preparations, he said, were not perfect, because of Hurricane Beryl forcing them into a late start for the preseason. “First year, we didn’t win a game and last year we won four games. There were times the players would joke out the games, so we are planning to do our best this year. We are coming out to try our best so we can get the players physically fit moving forward,” Thompson told STAR Sports . Donovan Duckie, coach of Manchester High, has an inexperienced team this season but expects to win the away game. “We want to start the competition with a win and that is what we call the icebreaker for us now. This is our first game and the players are looking forward to that after months of preparation. They are confident about themselves and we are definitely looking forward to the game today, Duckie told STAR Sports . Manchester are no strangers to moving past the first round. In fact, in seasons 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, they finished atop their zone. May Day have never beaten Manchester High. In the quarter-final round last season, Manchester finished third in Group A after losing May Day coach Thompson doesn’t believe in ‘underdog’ tag Team looking to win battle against fancied Manchester High Herbert Morrison Technical High School’s Dantay Morle (left) and Cornwall College’s Carlondo Morris battle for the ball during their opening match of the ISSA/WATAdaCosta Cup football competition at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday, September 7. Cornwall won 4-1. ASHLEY ANGUIN STAR Writer J ust days before the upcoming 2024-2025 Jamaica Premier League (JPL), some coaches in the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/WATA daCosta Cup football competi- tion have expressed mixed views about the six-day rule imposed by ISSA for schoolboys playing in the JPL. Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis, coach of Rusea’s High School, told STAR Sports that he has no issue with the rule. “What I think is that most of the youths need to start playing more football. A long time we a play in JPL or the division one, so I don’t see anything wrong with the rule. When a team drops out of the daCosta Cup, most of the players just go and sit down,” Davis said. “We need to find a way to keep them active. I believe that the daCosta Cup should be longer than three months. It is a good look to see if you can get the better players in the premier league,” he added. The rule states that players who participate in senior club competitions (Premier League or parish Major League) during the schoolboy season must take a rest period of six days before they are eligible to play in the Manning or daCosta Cup competitions again. ISSA’s main reasons for implementing the six-day rule is to protect players’ health and prevent over-exertion. Unlike Davis, Garrett Dennis, coach of Cambridge High School, said that the rule does not make much sense. “When you look at the daCosta Cup you have two games in five days. Sometimes you have three games in five days, so from the JPL, it doesn’t make sense. If you are playing on a Sunday and you have a game on a Tuesday or Wednesday, it is the same thing. I don’t see the logic behind that, but it is what it is,” Dennis said. The schoolboy football season started on Saturday, September 7. The JPL season is geared to kick off on Sunday, September 15. ashley.anguin@gleanerjm.com D’Cup coaches express mixed views on six-day rule THOMPSON DUCKIE Turn to UNDERDOG on Page 21 DENNIS DAVIS