Excelsior confident of making strong push in Manning Cup title defence

Excelsior High School, the defending Manning Cup champions, may not have had the best preparation for the upcoming season.

However, Keon Broderick, the team’s head coach, remains confident they will be ready to make a strong showing when the competition kicks off this month.

To complement this, the coach adds that they will not embrace any undue pressure to win, as developing the student-athletes into rounded individuals means more.

“There is no pressure at all, because the programme is not only about winning, it is more about how we develop these boys into productive members of society,” he said.

“Winning a Manning Cup or an Olivier Shield does not define you as a person, and so it is all about development outside of football.”

The Mountain View-based school ended a 21-year wait for the Manning Cup title last season, defeating Jamaica College 2-0 in the final.

They completed the schoolboy football double by beating daCosta Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical High School by the same score in the Olivier Shield.

Excelsior will play this season without several key players from their 2025 championship unit, including leading goalscorer Kimarly Scott, Terrence Williams, Cavan Salmon and Demario White.

In spite of this, Broderick says Excelsior still have enough quality to make another strong challenge for the title.

“We have persons who would have replaced those persons who would have left, and those persons who played last year and who will be playing this year have shown great improvements,” he said. “They have also shown a great deal of maturity and a lot more confidence.

“We are pretty confident. We still have a good bunch of players and they are adapting to the work that we are doing with them. So they are much smarter now, and I am expecting a great showing from them this season,” he said.

“We are just focusing on preparing for the Manning Cup and we are looking at all areas of our preparation right now. The boys are in camp and gelling as they should, and we are creating the right chemistry and focusing on all aspects of development, which is important to us.”