CATHERINE HALL, St James — Vassell Reynolds is hoping to get preparations off to an early start as he takes over the daCosta Cup programme at 10-time champions Rusea’s High, after a successful stint in the Corporate Area Manning Cup with Wolmer’s Boys’ School.

Reynolds, who led the Heroes’ Circle-based school to the lucrative Flow Super Cup title and the Manning Cup final this past schoolboy football season, has replaced Aaron Lawrence at Rusea’s after the latter’s three-year run that fell below the expectations of many.

Under the stewardship of Lawrence, who won several titles as a goalkeeper at Rusea’s in the 1990s before going on to the national senior team, and was part of the Reggae Boyz team that qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France, Rusea’s had a combined record of 19 wins, seven draws and eight losses.

The highlight came in 2016 when they qualified for the FLOW Super Cup Knockout for the first time, beating Haile Selassie High in the first round before losing to Cornwall College on penalty kicks in the quarter-finals, in one of the most highly anticipated games of the entire schoolboy football season.

After a slow start in the 2014 season when they were second in Zone B behind Frome Technical, then finished last in their inter-zone group, they made it as far as the quarter-finals the next two seasons.

“I think I would have played my part in the development and the continued development of the Wolmer’s programme,” Reynolds told the Jamaica Observer last week while attending the opening day of the Caribbean Football Union Caribbean Club Championship Group C games at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

“The programme has reached the stage where it can only do well from here on. I think it is the right time (for the move) as I would have achieved some amount of success over the past two seasons, and this offer came at the time and I think I am ready to take it up,” he said.

The rich history and tradition at the Hanover school, he said, was a big factor in his decision.

“The Rusea’s programme carries a lot of tradition and has a sound structure… I think it’s one of the better programmes in terms of organisation and support, and so the time is right,” Reynolds said.

The daCosta Cup may have its unique challenges, but that won’t bother Reynolds.

“I am not a stranger to D’Cup,” he pointed out when asked how long it would take him to get acclimatised to the competition. “Before Wolmer’s, I was at Garvey Maceo, Vere Technical and Edwin Allen High, and even while I coached in the Manning Cup I watched a lot of daCosta Cup games, so I know what’s going on and kept close contact,” he noted.

However, Reynolds admitted that it will be “different, especially in the west”.

“I have to get going as early as possible and that’s why I am starting the preseason as early as possible, getting people from this side of the country involved. I am talking to past student Dwayne Ambusley, who plays for Montego Bay United now, and hope to get started as soon as possible,” said the new Rusea’s boss.

“I am still putting my technical staff together, having regular meetings with players, and I will have a trial session soon,” Reynolds added.

Having spent several days at the school last week, Reynolds has an idea of the talent that he has inherited.

“I already know who will be back, and there are young players in the system that I need to look at as early as possible, and this I hope to do in the next few weeks and within the next month or so,” he explained.

So far, he said things have gone smoothly as “the reception from the Rusea’s community has been very good”.

“I feel welcomed. I was impressed with the way I was welcomed by everyone, from the staff and students alike,” Reynolds ended.