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‘No pressure’ on Guyanese quartet for Manning Cup

St Jago’s coach says GFF collaboration is all about development

Published:Wednesday | August 31, 2022 | 12:09 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Guyana youngsters (from left) Marcus Tudor, Brandon Solomon, Antwone Vasconcellos and Rajan Ramdeholl who have joined the St Jago High School Manning Cup football  programme.
Guyana youngsters (from left) Marcus Tudor, Brandon Solomon, Antwone Vasconcellos and Rajan Ramdeholl who have joined the St Jago High School Manning Cup football programme.

A QUARTET of youth Guyanese players have been recruited by St Jago High School for this season’s Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Manning Cup football competition.

Brandon Solomon, Antwone Vasconcellos, Rajan Ramdeholl and Marcus Tudor, through a collaboration between the Spanish Town-based school and the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), were each awarded two-year scholarships and will become part of the school’s football programme.

St Jago’s coach, Garnet Lawrence, said the players from Guyana are under no pressure to make an instant impact and that their development is the main priority.

“It is not about winning for them, really. It is about development. If it is that they come in and they play good, and we can go to the final or win the championship, that would be good,” said Lawrence. “But it is really about their development and collaboration with that country. So it is not like we are bringing in kids wholesale to make an impact on the Manning Cup. It is about two countries having a collaboration and working together,” he declared.

Of the group, Ramdeholl will be enrolled in fifth form and will be required to sit out a year. But the other three will be enrolled in lower-sixth form and are eligible to participate in the competition right away.

The players arrived on Monday, and Lawrence revealed that they have all been made to feel at home, and are settling in very well.

“St Jago is a welcoming community. The kids love them so far, and we all like the atmosphere,” he noted. “They are enjoying themselves and fitting in very well. They are all training, and can play as long as they make the team.

“They are learning from us and we are learning from them. They all have quality and a lot of exuberance and we are looking at that for the league, to see how much we can develop and matriculate in the competition,” he continued.

Continuing, the coach stressed that there is no extra burden on the players, even while he expects St Jago to kick-start their season with a good display against Meadowbrook in Group B, which also includes Jamaica College, St Catherine High, Cedar Grove Academy and St Mary’s College.

“We want to get them on a certain level and they are developing well, and all the players are really fighting to perform. We are here to perform,” Lawrence insisted.

“We play against Meadowbrook in our opening game and we want the three points, and we are very determined. We are training very hard for it, and we will deserve it as long as we go out and put down what we have been training. So it will be there for us as long as the boys perform,” he said.

The recruitment of the players came about after Guyanese Olympian Alian Pompey introduced the GFF technical staff to the recruiting staff of St Jago.

President of the GFF, Wayne Forde, said it is a life-changing opportunity for young boys, and he believes they can open doors for other young Guyanese footballers.

“These young men are saddled with the extra responsibility of paving the way for many more of their peers to join the anks and play football in Jamaica, I wish them every success,” he commented in a GFF release.

GFF Technical Director Bryan Joseph pointed that the parents are overwhelmed and that he, too, wishes them well.

“I am really looking forward to their sporting and academic development over the years to come,” said Joseph.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com