Glenmuir High optimistic about title challenge

Glenmuir High School’s assistant football coach Johnoy Chambers said his team is confident they can end the schoolboy football season with silverware as they intensify their preparations ahead of the daCosta Cup’s September start.

The reigning ISSA Champions Cup title-holders and beaten daCosta Cup finalists will be hoping they can add even more honours to their trophy cabinet.

Chambers said the players have proven they will not shy away from the work required to achieve their season’s goals.

“We are a bit optimistic, but at the end of the day, we’re taking it a game at a time and we’ll see how far we can go,” he said. “They understand what is supposed to be done and we have set clear objectives. Every single player is aware of those objectives and they are working assiduously to achieve those set objectives.”

Glenmuir will be hoping to better their title haul from last season. The Clarendon-based school had ended the season with their first-ever Champions Cup title in a close 3-2 win over Clarendon College.

However, they were humbled in the daCosta Cup final as Clarendon College exacted their revenge in a 6-2 drubbing.

Chambers said it has been a preseason free of any major issues so far for the team.

“The preseason has been okay so far, we can’t really complain. We have had a few hiccups here and there but nothing really major. We’re just taking it a day at a time with these boys and so far, so good,” the Glenmuir coach said.

He explained much of this is because of the football programme in place at the school throughout all age groups.

Chambers said players from the under-14 and under-16 competitions are trained with the purpose of making the transition to the daCosta Cup competition.

He is confident the younger players will step up to the plate and prove they are ready to compete at the under-19 level.

“Once you have a good programme, you have players that will matriculate,” Chambers explained. “We have younger players that have been understudying senior players so hopefully with our preparation, they would have fit in seamlessly. We won’t know until the season starts officially but based on what we’re seeing now, we don’t have any issues.”

Glenmuir will start their daCosta Cup campaign in Zone I along with Bustamante High, Foga Road High, Garvey Maceo High, Kemps Hill High, Old Harbour High, Winston Jones High and Vere Technical High.