Sun | Dec 1, 2024

Rural leg of the 2022 Junior Cup kicks off today

Published:Saturday | October 8, 2022 | 12:08 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
Andre Virtue (right), CEO, Ballaz International Group, conducting a clinic for coaches in the Junior Cup football competition. Looking on is Shaun Williams, member of the organising committee, Junior Cup. The clinic took place at the launch of the Junior
Ian Allen
Andre Virtue (right), CEO, Ballaz International Group, conducting a clinic for coaches in the Junior Cup football competition. Looking on is Shaun Williams, member of the organising committee, Junior Cup. The clinic took place at the launch of the Junior Cup football competition at the Sports Development Foundation in Kingston on Tuesday, September 27, 2022.

The first round of the urban leg of the Free Your Image (FYI) consultancy group-organised 2022 Junior Cup competition has been completed and the focus is now on the rural leg of the competition which will kick off at 8 a.m. today on the grounds of Cornwall College.

The 12 schools that are down to contest the rural leg of the competition were divided into four zones.

Zone 1: St Mary’s Preparatory, Bethel Primary, Montego Bay Preparatory

Zone 2: Albion Primary, Goodwill Primary, Eman Academy

Zone 3: Darmathupatti Primary, Steer Town Primary, Chetwood Primary

Zone 4: Howard Cooke Primary, Corinaldi Primary, Oracabessa Primary

For Kemal Russell, head coach of Oracabessa Primary, despite preparations not being ideal, he’s cautiously optimistic about what his charges can produce on match day one.

“We had a short, limited amount of time to get ready but we’re feeling confident heading into tomorrow that we can display our quality at Cornwall College. The main thing for us is fitness. We also work on our skills, which include passing, dribbling, shooting and our tackles,” the head coach said yesterday.

Coach Russell added that the seven versus seven age-group competition for Under-11s will provide much-needed exposure for the young players, and his team has shown a serious level of anticipation.

“They are really excited about it, and are looking forward to it. They’re eager to just go out there and display their talents while enjoying themselves. An achievement for me is to see them (Oracabessa Primary) go out there and enjoying themselves, because it’s their first competition and, if we could get a win, that would be a plus,” added Russell.

Drawn alongside Russell’s Oracabessa Primary in Zone 4 are Corinaldi Primary. Their Under-11 programme is headed by Recardo Esmie, who stated that, despite the persistent rains brought on by Tropical Storm Ian which affected the island, his players are ready to enter the battle.

“ We were in and out of preparations, because lately you would have realised that we got a lot of rain. But, regardless, we’ve gotten ourselves ready and hopefully we will come out successful,” said Esmie.

Part of his preparation agenda was to develop the mental aspect of the game, which includes helping his team to understand that, even with the tough competition, they (Corinaldi Primary) should leave smiling.

“What I’ve been working on mostly is getting into their brain and let them know that we’re going out there to have fun and enjoy our game. No matter the result, we should leave the competition smiling. Going into a competition, we’re always calm and focused, that’s the Corinaldi method.

“That (winning the title) would be a major accomplishment, because, once Corinaldi goes out, we always go for the title,” coach Esmie added.

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com