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Mona’s Bicknell sets sights on Manning Cup final in 2022

Published:Sunday | December 26, 2021 | 12:07 AMRobert Bailey - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Alexander Bicknell (right) of Mona High and St Andrew Technical’s Namar Nelson in a tussle for possession during an ISSA Manning Cup quarter-final match at Ashenheim Stadium, Jamaica College on December 17. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
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Alexander Bicknell (right) of Mona High and St Andrew Technical’s Namar Nelson in a tussle for possession during an ISSA Manning Cup quarter-final match at Ashenheim Stadium, Jamaica College on December 17. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Having received his first taste of the ISSA/Manning Cup competition, Mona High School midfielder Alexander Bicknell has now set his sights on achieving much greater things with the institution next season.

The 16-year-old Bicknell, who is the younger brother of Jamaica’s number one male tennis player Blaise, helped Mona to reach the quarter-finals of the Manning Cup competition this year, having transferred from St George’s International British High School in Cologne, Germany, in October.

The central midfielder, a former student of Campion College, said he has adapted well at Mona because his schoolmates showed him a lot of love and respect both on and off the field of play.

“I was at school in Jamaica before because I attended Campion (College) so I am kind of used to the whole school system and all of that,” said Bicknell. “I adjusted into the Mona team really quickly and we bonded as a team,” he said.

“They accepted me here because there are many Phoenix Academy players who play for Mona and I played for Phoenix before I left for Germany, and so I had a lot of chemistry with my teammates and I knew a lot of them before I came here,” he said.

Despite being from what could be termed the upper echelons of the Jamaican society and once attended Campion College, widely considered as one of the top high schools in Jamaica, Bicknell is viewed by his schoolmates at Mona, a non-traditional high school, as a normal student in class.

“They treated me like any new student should be treated,” he said. “They treated me good and they welcomed me to the school,” Bicknell said. “Hopefully, I will be back for next season much stronger and better and to help Mona get into the final and to win the Manning Cup competition,” Bicknell stated.

He underscored that he was pleased with his performance in the competition this season because the Manning Cup competition was a lot more physical than he had anticipated.

“I played the last four games because I wasn’t here for the first few but we played excellently. The only game that we let lost (in the quarter-finals) was against JC (Jamaica College),” Bicknell said.