Having won the DaCosta Cup and Olivier Shield in consecutive years, Clarendon College will have one eye on the elusive Champions Cup when the new schoolboy football season kicks off later this year.
Clarendon College Coach Lenworth Hyde, who played for CC back in the 1970s and was a member of their all-conquering 1977 side, said he has designs on winning the Champions Cup next season.
“We definitely want to win the Champions Cup. That is one of the aims. It has been eluding us two seasons now so we will try at it again this season,” he told Sportsmax.TV Wednesday during the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) SBF Presentation Ceremony where Clarendon College was presented with the DaCosta Cup and the Olivier Shield.
He said his team learnt a valuable lesson in the Champions Cup final against Kingston College last season. CC was outplayed and subsequently lost 1-0 to Ludlow Bernard’s outstanding Kingston College side at the National Stadium in Kingston.
“We went in thinking we had already won the match. We didn’t approach it right. We were lackadaisical and KC really came out with fire. We tried to quell it but we didn’t score on the day. I must lift my hat to the KC team.”
Looking ahead to the new season, Hyde said he has retained a nucleus of players that should see them successfully defending their titles.
“We have to continue working hard. We have the material. We have a good set of youngsters 14 and 16 years old. We have a good cadre of players and that is what we love. When you have talented players it is just my duty to guide them in the right direction and keep them disciplined,” said Hyde said only lost five players from his almost all-conquering squad from last season.
Having won the Olivier Shield over Jamaica College thus breaking the urban schools’ hold after more than a decade, Hyde said he takes special pride in being able to bring the trophy back to rural Jamaica.
“When I used to play we were on top. We used to beat the town teams. That is our aim right now and that motivates me to show that football is not only in Kingston alone, but it’s also all over.”
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