Despite losing almost their entire team from last season, Vassell Reynolds, head coach of last year’s beaten finalists Kingston College (KC), is still confident that his side will put on a good showing in this year’s Manning Cup competition.

In fact, Reynolds, who replaced Raymond Watson at the helm earlier this year, said the North Street-based institution has only retained three players from the team which made it to the semi-finals of the Manning Cup competition last year.

The Purples have been drawn in a very tough Group A, which includes former champions Calabar, Camperdown, Charlie Smith, along with former finalists Hydel and Penwood.

Reynolds, who has over 30 years’ coaching experience under his belt, said that KC are now in a rebuilding phase because they have assembled a very young team for this year’s championships, but he is upbeat that they will be competitive.

“The average age of the team is 16, and so we are looking to see what experience this group can gain for this season and the other season, but that does not say we are not going to come to the party to represent Kingston College as best as we possibly can,” said Reynolds.

“I have always said that names on paper is not really what play football, it is the performance within the 90 minutes, so what we are hoping for is that each game these boys will come out and give a good Kingston College performance,” he added.

Reynolds is aware that emerging from a group with quality opponents will require a special response.

“We are in a very tough group because on paper it is probably the toughest group in the Manning Cup that I have seen for a while, but I am confident that we will perform well and I am hoping that the performance that we will give will be good enough to take us through this group,” he noted.

The vastly experienced Reynolds, who is a former coach at Hydel and Wolmer’s and led Rusea’s High to the 2017 daCosta Cup title, underscored that the KC head coaching job is a very tough one, but with the support of the entire school community he believes that they can achieve a lot together.

“It is a tough job because if you are coaching in any sport at Kingston College, then the expectations are going to be great,” said Reynolds.

“This is because of the standard that the Kingston College stakeholders and family would have set for themselves. They feel that once they hit the ground, whether it is in sports or anything, Kingston College should produce and produce the best and always produce the kind of performance that can bring success,” he reasoned.

KC, who last won the Manning Cup title in 2021, are set to face Hydel in their opening match of the tournament on September 12 at the Royal Lakes field in St Catherine.