Dalton Myers | Clarendon College – Persevere and Excel

Clarendon College are the back-to-back daCosta Cup and Olivier Shield Champions, making them the best schoolboy football team in Jamaica.

When I went to Clarendon College in 1992 as a child leaving Alley in Clarendon, all you would hear about is the 1991 team captained by former national player Christopher Dawes and coached by Neil Harrison. Harrison is currently Jamaica College’s track and field coach. To us, that team was made of legends. As we later learned about the 1977 and ‘78 teams, we really felt like we were in a school of legends.

There was some level of disappointment in 1992 as we could not defend the trophy. However, some good players were put together in those amazing five years I ‘studied’ in Chapelton. We managed to win the 1994 and ‘96 trophies, and by the time the team won in 1998, I was in sixth form at bitter rivals Glenmuir High School but was still rooting for Clarendon.

There is a lot to take away from the 2018-2019 seasons that Lenworth ‘Lenny/Teacha’ Hyde has orchestrated these trophies.

Levels of patience

It shows that rural schools can still produce very good football teams while playing attractive, possession-type football, and applying great levels of patience. It was always going to be difficult to match the 2018 season that included Nique Daley, Lamar Walker, Ricardo McIntosh, and many more. Losing several of the starters from last season meant more work for the coaching staff. In fact, we all thought André Nicholson’s 86th-minute screamer last year could not be matched, that is, until this year’s Olivier Shield.

That is why the trophies this year must be so special for the coaching staff as despite the issues, the team managed to play attractive football and not necessarily depend on any one player.

I am not going to suggest for one minute that this schoolboy season was the best or that we have seen the next generation of greats. There were moments of madness and poor decision-making where you would expect under-19 footballers to be better able to execute, but the type of surfaces they play on also had an impact. What I do believe is that for majority of the season, the team concentrated on ball possession, being patient with the ball, playing out from the back, while the neat short passes in build-up were great to see.

Speaking of the Olivier Shield, it seemed everything was aligned for late drama.

CC were wasteful in front of goal and dominated Jamaica College in terms of possession. When goalkeeper Prince-Daniel Smith took the ball to the centre, then headed to the JC penalty box, nothing prepared us for what to come next. That stoppage-time goal by Smith will become a part of the CC folklore; reflecting the CC motto ‘Perstare et Praestare’ which is to ‘Persevere and Excel’.

Hyde and his entire coaching and management staff, as well as the entire CC support team, did a good job with these players; they must be commended. It is the fifth hold on the Shield and Hyde’s team has claimed many historic feats, including the first back-to-back daCosta Cup and Olivier Shield titles since his own playing days at CC in 1977-78.

Last year, he ended a 16-year wait for a daCosta Cup triumph also. Hyde has indicated that he thinks there are a lot of talented young footballers in Jamaica, who just need good coaches to develop them; I agree. I also believe that the fields, officiating and support around some teams can leave a lot to be desired.

My concern, however, is that with the poor structure we have locally to develop our top players, I am not sure how many of these players from across the nation can really make the transition to the professional or even semi-professional level. Additionally, how many are being equipped with the requisite academic tools to move into tertiary education? We all have a role to play.

Moving forward, I can only hope that Clarendon College’s dominance continues. If ‘Teacha’ Hyde and his team were able to do what they did this year with the many challenges faced, then the future looks great as we Persevere and Excel. #OneCollege.

Dalton Myers is a sports consultant and host of The Drive Phase Podcast. Email feedback to daltonsmyers@gmail.com or tweet @daltonsmyers.