WHILE pleased with the return of schoolboy football, Clarendon College Head Coach Devon Anderson and McGrath High Head Coach Jermaine Thomas are more focused on the well-being of their students after being impacted by Hurricane Melissa.

The ISSA daCosta Cup and Manning Cup competitions, currently at the round of 16 stage, have been on hold since the end of October due to the Category 5 hurricane which devastated several parts of the island.

On Friday ISSA announced the rural area competition will resume on Saturday, November 29, with the urban area competition kicking off a day earlier.

Ten-time champions Clarendon College are one of the teams looking to make passage into the last eight, but it hasn’t been easy for the team over the past few weeks due to the hurricane.

A close relative of Anderson, who lives in western Jamaica, suffered major losses, and he has been helping with their recovery. Several players on the team were also emotionally affected as they dealt with the death of loved ones and family members who lost their homes.

Months into his new role, former Hydel and Holy Trinity coach Anderson told the Jamaica Observer that he’s been doing all he can to uplift team spirits but admits it’s been one of his most difficult tasks ever as a coach.

“Outside of COVID, I haven’t gone through anything this dramatic with students, especially with my students really affected by it. In Kingston, I have never been through anything where a youth lose a family member or lose somebody close to him, or get damaged and stuff like that — so this is new for me,” he said.

“I’m also learning as I go along in order to try to communicate more on a better level. I’m not a professional but, nevertheless, I’m trying to motivate them. I try to talk with them more and assure them that things will get better.”

Thomas is grateful that the Linstead-based McGrath was relatively spared from the hurricane’s impact but he, too, knows it is a challenging road ahead to motivate his team.

“They would have been without electricity for a long time, and one or two roofs and stuff like that would have been gone, so some of them were affected directly and also indirectly,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “It was difficult at first but, again, you cannot complain because the ones down in St Elizabeth and Westmoreland, what they had to go through was way more severe than anybody else so guess what? I’m not going to complain. I’m just going to be grateful.”

“We have tried our best to keep these guys motivated. It is not easy because they’re just not playing, but we understand exactly why they aren’t playing. But, we have been trying and they have been responding.”

Thomas, on the other hand, has praised ISSA for their efforts in ensuring all schools were comfortable before returning to the field.

“They would have assured all the stakeholders and said, ‘We will support you in whatever way, we will put measures in place to assist you where we can.’ And for me, that’s a high point of view because I would not want the competition to restart and then the schools that would have been severely affected not being able to play,” he said.

“I’m happy that some time would have been given to the schools and the areas that would have been affected significantly to at least get themselves some kind of normalcy before the resumption. I’m really expecting that psychologically, you know, everybody will be able to pick themselves up and we can all come together to facilitate the process and facilitate everybody.”

While McGrath will be looking to make their second ever final this year, Clarendon College will be looking to add to their 10 titles.

However, Anderson isn’t placing any expectations on the team right now due to the mental toll caused by the hurricane.

“The [training] sessions are more about enjoyment more than pressuring the kids, because [while] they wouldn’t have fallen out of love with their favourite sport, they would have seen some form of damper and was wondering if it would continue, especially a few students that don’t have any more years in school. They were wondering if this is the end of their schoolboy football so they are glad to know that it’s going to continue,” he said.

“We’re taking it week by week, get them back in a rhythm, and hopefully we can get back [to] where we were.”

Clarendon College are second in Zone 3 after their goalless draw with defending champions Garvey Maceo, while McGrath lead Zone 4 on three points after a 2-0 win over Manchester High.

Clarendon College Head Coach Devon Anderson (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

McGrath High Head Coach Jermaine Thomas (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Clarendon College’s Justin Hayles (foreground) takes on two Denbigh High defenders in Saturday’s opening ISSA Wata daCosta Cup game played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex. Hayles scored the opening goal as Clarendon College won the game 2-1. (Photo: Paul Reid)

Ocho Rios High’s Ashawn Harris (left) challenges McGrath High’s Shane Pusey during their ISSA daCosta Cup encounter in December 2024. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)