Treasure Beach set sights on remaining in the JPL

WITH just a day to go before kick-off of the 2025-26 Jamaica Premier League (JPL) season, returning team Treasure Beach have set their sights on remaining in the league.

First year coach Kemar Ricketts told The Gleaner that they will be seeking to build a squad that can stay in the league.

“We won’t get ahead of ourselves, anything else is a bonus,” said Ricketts, who wants to win the first game of the season.

“It’s about how you start and finish, it is an endurance thing,” added Ricketts.

In the Jamaica Football Championships (Tier II) competition, Treasure Beach won nine and drew seven of their 16 matches, including the two semifinal games, before losing in the final to Spanish Town Police FC.

In 2023, they ended a 42-year drought as they were the first St Elizabeth-based team to be promoted to the JPL.

They were relegated in the 2023-2024 season after finishing 13th. For the first game against Spanish Town, Ricketts said the team is focused on winning rather than seeking revenge.

“I wouldn’t say it is revenge because each season writes its own story. We will be meeting them again at least three times during the season, so we can’t be fixated on one team,” said Ricketts.

According to Ricketts, Treasure Beach have a mixture of young and experienced players heading into the season. In an ongoing effort to strengthen the squad, the team is scouting for players in the JPL and other lower level leagues.

In the just-concluded (Tier II) competition, Treasure Beach had a majority of schoolboys in their squad.

Ricketts said though expectations are high, there is no pressure going into the season.

“Whatever job we take on, we do that with high expectations of ourselves. We don’t feel any kind of pressure, only from the parish itself and the adjoining parishes that would love to see the team in the Premier League next season,” said Ricketts.

Ricketts commended the club’s management for their hard work as they have been instrumental in the team’s preparations.

Meanwhile, Paul Bernard, the president of Treasure Beach FC, said despite the financial struggles, the team has improved with 40 per cent of the players having JPL experience.

“We are in a much better place than two years ago. We learned from the 2023 season because we were amateurs to JPL. This year we have more experienced players,” Bernard said.

The club started in 1993 in the Division Two league, with former chairman Jason Henzell who stepped down a few weeks ago.