SPOT VALLEY, St James — Buoyed by the retention of most of their team members from the last season of the daCosta Cup football competition, two years ago, there is optimistic that the St James-based Green Pond High School will give a good account of themselves even as they will play outside of Zone A in the competition for the first time since entering in 2008.

The Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) schoolboys’ football competition is expected to return next weekend after nearly two years break due to the coronavirus pandemic and Green Pond High will line up in Zone B where they will face teams from Westmoreland and Hanover – former champions Frome Technical, Godfrey Stewart High, Rusea’s High as well as Green Island High, Manning’s School and Petersfield High.

Coach Gregory Daley told the Jamaica Observer West that given the “overcrowding” in Zone A with eight teams spanning the parishes of St James and Trelawny, “we were asked [to play in Zone B], but for me this year is about development and exposure for some youngsters, so I accepted.”

Like most teams participating in the competition, Green Pond’s preparation was interrupted due mainly to the uncertainty surrounding the start of the competition.

At half-time in their practice game against Spot Valley High on Monday, Daley said the team was approaching three weeks of steady practice.

He said no matter where they are in their preparation, “the truth is that we will have to be ready because when the competition starts we have to be ready to play,” he argued. “In terms of training and how we have progressed, we have progressed well, we have just completed two and a half weeks of training going into a third week, so we are way behind the eight ball and some things that we would love to be doing, but we can’t really spend the time to do them, but it is what it is, and we have to make the best of it,” he told the Observer West.

Daley is in an enviable position as he returns a large part of his 2019 team that advanced from the first round as one of the best third-place teams.

“We are really looking at getting some exposure and match experience for some of the younger kids and that will be the main focus for this year. When I say that I always play 15 and 16 years olds, well it is showing now because I can reproduce from the last starting 11 at least nine players from 2019,” he shared.

Admitting that they should “be a competitive team”, Daley said, “I just want to get the fitness level up and the psyche and the mental aspect of their game because waiting around for two years basically has not done anything to their development. The further we go into the competition the better we will be.”

He, however, expressed concern that only about 10 per cent of the players had gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“So we are waiting but it seems they [health authorities] are focusing on those who need a second dose, but the boys are ready and so are the parents”.