The future looks bright for young Kenyan hockey tacticians who anticipate to coach at the highest level possible, Daystar Falcons coach Ian Orunga has said.
Despite coming second in the inaugural HockeyKE coach of the year awards that was won by former Butali tactician Denis Owoka, Orunga believes change can be realised with more long-serving players moving to management.
The 29-year-old former Daystar captain is among the few budding coaches who are slowly gaining popularity and familiarity with the game.
Others are United States International University-A Spartans coach Willis Okeyo, who doubles up as a Kenya Police player. Okeyo guided the students to a second-place finish in the women's Premier League.
Thomas Mucheni, who was third in the awards turns out for Greensharks and tutors Amira Sailors women's team. Reigning men's Premier League champions Butali Warriors have handed veteran player Zack Aura a coaching role in the team.
Gordon Oduor is another one with a player-coach role. He guided women super league side, Wolverines to promotion to the top tier while Timothy Kamar is an umpire cum coach for Sailors men's team. All the tacticians are below 40-years.
Orunga believes with more coaches training, growth is assured as it comes with experience as witnessed in hockey powerhouse nations like Belgium. This will ignite the hunger and passion for the game and hone skills.
"It is a wise idea to initiate young coaches in the game. They have more time to learn and polish up on their weaknesses and will be more experienced in the later stages of their careers. We have the potential to coach at the highest level provided we get the right platform. Doing it from an early age makes everything possible," remarked Orunga who took over leadership from Moses Kagochi in 2017.
"More training, exposure and refresher courses are the way to go. We have a lot to prove with the changing times," hinted Orunga who coached Mavoko Secondary School in 2018. Orunga is tasked with guiding Daystar to the Super League. The students finished third in the National League last season.
