AK get touch

Athletics Kenya (AK) have warned foreigners masquerading as athletics coaches without their permission. AK chairman Isaiah Kiplagat said there are so many foreigners, especially in Rift Valley who arrive on tourists visa and have decided to stick around purporting to be coaches. He said such coaches are the source of problems facing athletes especially around Iten area. “We don’t know who they are, and how they became coaches but we will soon find out who they are,” said Kiplagat.

He said AK is keen to regulate on such matters in a bid to avoid operating a free market for all sorts of coaches. “We need to have a controlled coaching department if this country is to earn respect as an athletics power house. We don’t want anybody coming here and jumping around in the guise of coaching,” he added. Kiplagat was speaking over the weekend during the closing ceremony of a two-day women’s coaching course at the AK headquarters.

Kiplagat said the purpose of the course was to revive the women coaching factor within the AK ranks. “We have realised there are very few women coaches in the country and this is just the beginning of the long journey to ensure the Kenyan women are part of the athletics success in the country,” he noted. He said their move is in line with the country’s constitution that requires every sector to be gender sensitive. He said the association will also have the position of a woman among the five vice chairmen to be elected at their next election.

Besides, he added that one of the three committee members to be elected will also be a woman. “ Women are also free to vie for the other positions as we are very gender sensitive,” he added. “We are committed on this process and we want women to come out in their numbers and play key roles in various AK departments,” said the AK boss. He said it is unfortunate that there is no women among the top coaches in the country yet they have had all the opportunities to train courtesy of AK. “ They just walk away after training and this is not what we want to see here. If you know you are part of this course, you should go back to your centre and make use of what you learnt here. It is not enough for you to keep chasing trips here and there yet you haven’t contributed anything to the growth of athletics even in your village,” the chairman told the 25 women coaches who attended the course. He said some of the women coaches they had sponsored under the ‘Kids Training Programme’ took off immediately the course was over. At the moment, he said the neighbouring Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia were very much ahead as far as the Kids Training Programme is concerned.

Kiplagat castigated Kenya’s officiating standards, saying they are too low . He, however, noted that they are committed to streamlining their technical department. He said there are so many inactive officials who still sneak to international meetings without their knowledge. “ Some of the officials last attended an athletics meeting 20 years ago but they are still invited for international meetings. We are soon going to rectify this,” he warned. “We want have a register of the active officials and introduce job cards that will ensure their activities are monitored,” he added.

AK vice chairman Jack Tuwei, who was present told the participants to decide what they want to do and not just jump on such opportunities for the sake of it. “ It is not enough just to attend a course, you need to be sure of how you want to contribute to the sport,” he said.