Former Cornwall College and Faulkland FC star midfield footballer Peter-Lee Vassell says he is using the downtime in the sport caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic to socialise with friends and family members.

The Reggae Boyz playmaking midfielder who is going through one of his longest breaks from playing football, told the Jamaica Observer West earlier this week that he is looking at the positives and the negatives of the coronavirus pandemic that has brought life almost to a halt around the globe.

“We [now] get the chance to stay home and socialise with friends and family, as when we play football it’s hard to socialise, we don’t get the time to spend with those we love,” he said, referring to a positive of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And turning to the negative, Vassell noted that “a lot of people are out of work, and we can’t get to train properly, gyms are closed etcetera”.

Vassell, who won almost every title on offer while playing for Cornwall College from the Under-14 to the daCosta Cup level, was part of the team that won the latter in 2016, breaking a 15-year drought for the Montego Bay-based school.

The 22- year-old, who is in-between clubs, was hoping to have been playing professional football overseas at this time, were it not for the pandemic.

Vassell, who was drafted by the Los Angeles FC organisation and who split time with Phoenix Rising FC, before being released after the first season, was expecting to be with a club.

He said, however, that the forced break caused by coronavirus, had set him back.

“This disrupted my plans big time, as I had some doors open for me during the period before this thing [COVID-19 pandemic] happened,” he stressed.

He added however, that “there are a lot of positives to take from this, and a lot of negatives, but nothing to sit down and worry about, it’s just life, and we just have to work with it”.

The more than two months that he has not been able to train in a group or play football has been the longest time he has been unable to play the game he loves. He added, however, that he has not been idle.

“I have been doing a lot of training since this started; I have been running, and I have a programme from the national team and also from my personal trainer,” Vassell told the Observer West.

“I have been doing some boxing and swimming as well, so I have been doing my best to stay active for when football resumes,” he said, stressing that “this is the longest period that I have not played any football for”.