The Michael Olunga Football Academy (MOFA) has formed a collaboration with three schools to mentor and develop future football stars.
The academy, which is situated in Othoro, Homabay County, and focuses on sports mentoring, is the idea of Harambee stars captain and Qatar-based striker Michael Olunga.
As a first step toward further such collaborations, the academy entered into a partnership agreement with academic and sporting heavyweights Agoro Sare School in Homabay county, St Mary's School Yala in Siaya county, and Kisumu Day in Kisumu county.
MOFA develops and trains talent ranging from under 10 years to under 18. MOFA FC, a football team run by the Academy, competes in the Football Kenya Federation National Division One League.
The schools will offer educational scholarships to students from the football academy to pursue their education as they continue to hone their football skills.
According to Victor Olunga, the star striker's brother, the MOFA Academy has eight players at St. Mary's Yala and four players at Kisumu Day High School and is already partnered with Agoro Sare School while seeking new schools to work with.
The country is brimming with potential that just has to be tapped into by the right people for it to grow.
Former Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama has also built a state-of-the-art sports complex in the country.
The Victor Wanyama Foundation has a long-term goal of building a cutting-edge sports complex with both indoor and outdoor arenas.
The academy is located on a 20-acre plot of land in Busia county, and Wanyama believes the cutting-edge facility will transform sports, training, and education in the country while also providing important athletic infrastructure.
The Foundation stated that its mission is to empower adolescents through education, athletics, and the arts.
It also intends to work with research and educational institutions to perform research in the areas of sports law, sports business, sports governance, and sports in general.
It is so comforting to see that there are some incredible people out there, such as Olunga and Wanyama, who are more than prepared to lay the groundwork for the growth and success of our rising stars.
We cannot ignore the work of countless other well-meaning coaches and football administrators across the country who have established several successful academies.
Yet, such facilities suffer a variety of constraints that limit their breadth of service. For one thing, they charge for training, which excludes a substantial percentage of prospective recipients.
Late last year, President William Ruto launched an ambitious plan to develop talent in the country through a countrywide football tournament including all 47 counties.
The effort intends to guide the country toward its goal of making a maiden World Cup appearance in 2026.
The dream is not out of reach if all necessary stakeholders work together to make it a reality. We can't accomplish much with the current crop of national team players, who are nearing the end of their careers.
Ideally, the government's initiative, as well as those of stakeholders like Olunga, will find a new pool of talent capable of delivering on a global scale.
It requires the concerted effort of all those tasked with formulating and implementing policies on sports for us to succeed.
Football custodians such as the Football Kenya Federation and the Ministry of Sports should be at the forefront of embracing any ideas of creating a favourable environment for our rising talents to develop.
