Peterkin: daCosta teams must be ready for early high-intensity games

Ocho Rios High coach Veron Peterkin believes there will be little room for teams to ease into the upcoming Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) schoolboy daCosta Cup season as a new competition format is expected to force schools to be ready for high-intensity competition from the opening rounds.

With seeded teams entering at a later stage and four titles up for grabs, Peterkin said the revised format will require a different approach to preparation as teams can no longer rely on early matches to find their rhythm.

“We have to change our approach because normally, we use our first-round games as a warm-up, but now, we have to hit the ground running. Our periodisation has to change. So based on the fact that we can’t control it, we just have to focus on what is next, which is just getting the boys ready,” said Peterkin.

“Preparation is progressing well, though the team has not yet reached peak readiness for the upcoming season,” he added.

In the upcoming season, teams have been seeded in the daCosta and Manning Cup competitions for the first time. The unseeded teams will battle it out in the first round, with the top ones moving on to the second round, where the seeded teams will then join the action.

All teams in the rural daCosta Cup and Corporate Area Manning Cup will be involved in both the Ben Francis KO and Walker Cup KO competitions, respectively. This was the format used many, many years ago.

Growing legacy

Despite playing in a parish now home to former Jamaica Premier League and Caribbean champions Mount Pleasant Academy, the veteran coach Peterkin says his players are drawing inspiration from the school’s own growing legacy in the ISSA daCosta Cup.

“We try to inspire ourselves. That is our motivation and inspiration. Our primary inspiration is to repeat the successes of our school and perform even better,” said Peterkin.

“I don’t know if Mount Pleasant’s success inspires our players. My reason is that our players lack a direct relationship with them and instead seek inspiration within themselves,” added Peterkin.

Peterkin said there is little direct connection between his players and Mount Pleasant’s stars, making Ocho Rios’ own historic run to the semi-finals in 2024 a more relevant source of motivation.

Last season, Ocho Rios were eliminated by defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High in the round of 16.

They qualified for the Ben Francis Knockout quarterfinals but were beaten 4-1 by former champions McGrath High.

Having lost four players from last season, Peterkin said the focus remains on developing other players to fill those roles.

“We lost four very important players, but as usual, we just have to give the others the opportunity to do well, and we still have a fairly good team,” said Peterkin.

While the team aims to win, Peterkin prefers not to set overly high expectations, opting instead to take the season one game at a time.

Asked about thoughts on potential hydration breaks owing to heat and dust caused by El Niño, Peterkin said he was not in favour of mandatory hydration breaks.

“It’s very good and also very bad. Good because of our climate, but I don’t think it should be used in every game because not every area in the country has the same climate. I think it should depend on the time of the day the game is being played,” said Peterkin.

With the El Niño climatic impact in full effect, ISSA president Keith Wellington noted at last Wednesday’s launch that hydration breaks similar to those used at the recent World Cup are likely to become part of the reality of schoolboy football this year to safeguard student‑athletes. However, he could not confirm whether they would be compulsory.

In their opening game, Ocho Rios will face Little London in the Ben Francis round of 64.