Russian renaissance
Tegat Davis makes plans for Rusea’s revival
Published:Wednesday | August 30, 2023 | 12:13 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
ALTHOUGH PAUL ‘Tegat’ Davis had brief stints as coach of Clarendon College and William Knibb, he spent most of his coaching career at the senior level.
However, this season, the highly rated coach will take on a new challenge as technical director of many-time daCosta Cup and Olivier Shield champions Rusea’s.
The school won the last of its 11 daCosta Cup titles in 2017 and Davis hopes to not only bring back the days when the ‘Russians’ were perennial finalist in the competition, but he wants to impact the players’ work in the classroom as well.
“I’m here to try to bring back those glory days. I want to look at the system that Rusea’s used to play back then and we are going to try and bring that back to the school,” he told The Gleaner.
“But one of the things I want to do while I am here is to ensure that the kids go to school and get good grades. There is a life after football and I don’t think coaches are emphasising that. So those are my main objectives.”
Davis, who coached Arnett Gardens to third in last season’s Jamaica Premier League (JPL), has only been in the job a little over a week now. As a result, he has no intention of interfering with coach Dwayne Ambusley and the daCosta Cup programme this season.
However, he intends to implement a system in the youth teams that will transition to the senior team for next season and onwards.
“I will not trouble the (daCosta Cup) programme because I am well behind. I have only been here a week now, so it would be unfair for me to really step in. So I will not disrupt the daCosta Cup coach.
“What I will do is to build with the under-14 and the under-16s, so that the whole school develops this system. So we are going to play one system,” he noted.
Nevertheless, he said, he will offer as much support as he can to the coach without interfering with his work.
“If I have to step in at times, I will to ensure that things are going in the right direction. But what I will do is if I see little things, I will sit and have discussions with him and try to find the right way to go. But I will not interfere because the team is already built in his identity.”
He added that he welcomes the new challenge but insists they must work hand in hand to be a success.
“Hopefully, the staff and everybody gravitate to the style and the system that we want. And we all have to be on one page.”