• The kings of rugby, football, volleyball have turned into a pale shadow of their former selves.
• In recent years, all these schools have turned into a pale shadow of their former selves.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Just when did the rain start beating powerhouses that once dominated school games?
There has been a tremendous shift in recent years. For example, girls’ volleyball titles were once a preserve of Western-based Lugulu and Mukumu schools. So was Paul Boit from the Rift Valley in the boys’ category.
What of Jericho Ofafa (Nairobi), Thur Gem (Nyanza), Musingu (Western) and Kamukunji (Nairobi), who were giants in football? Mention rugby and city-based Lenana and Nairobi schools come to mind. In basketball, Shimba Hills and Tigoi stood tall.
But in recent years, all these schools have turned into a pale shadow of their former selves.
The significance of sports cannot be gainsaid. The world over, the socioeconomic impact of sports is self-evident. Little wonder that sports now goes hand in hand with academic work.
Games are no longer treated as extracurricular activities, but co-curricular. They offer formal learning experiences.
Most schools that used to perform well in previous years become a pale shadow of their former selves if the principal or games HoD is transferred, and the new management does not support the gameKSSSA Sec Gen Moses Mbuthia
School sporting activities offer a means for students to gain life skills that enable some to turn into professional sports personalities.
STARS MADE IN SCHOOL
Indeed, Lugulu and Mukumu were known to churn out players who later joined national teams. The majority of the most celebrated women’s volleyball players trace their history to the two schools.
They include veterans Dorcas Ndasaba, now coaching Rwanda Revenue Authority, Catherine Mabwi (former under-23 women’s coach and Kenya Volleyball Federation deputy secretary general), Margaret Indakala (Kenya Pipeline coach) and Judith Sirenge (Pipeline).
Other notable names include current players Janet Wanja and Triza Atuka (Mukumu), Brackcides Agala, Evelyne Makuto and Elizabeth Wanyama (Lugulu).
In the Kenyan football landscape, Ofafa Jericho and Kamukunji produced such big names as former national team coach Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee, Musa Otieno, Dennis Oliech (Gor Mahia), McDonald Mariga (Spanish club-Real Oviedo) and his brother Victor Wanyama (Tottenham).
Thur Gem also provided players who made a mark in the Kenyan Premier League, including George Odhiambo (Blackberry of Gor Mahia), Noah Abich and Geoffrey Kokoyo.
Mention Nairobi School and legends like Edward Rombo come to mind.
In the name of sports, the players have become popular and earned a living. Their former schools are, however, nowhere near their fame. Many are left wondering how they met their Waterloo.
So what could have gone wrong?
Well, according to teachers and other stakeholders, different goings-on are to blame for the dip in performance among the once indomitable schools. They cite lack of incentives, age cheating, poaching, academic pressure and change of management.
LACK OF INCENTIVES
In Lugulu, which last won the national title in 2009 in Mombasa, Sports department head Harrison Akala said that unlike their competitors, who give incentives to their students, Lugulu doesn’t. He said some schools pay or waive fees for their athletes.
Others go to the extent of buying off parents to allow them to admit their children, he said. They even go the extra mile of shopping for the students — “generally catering for their well-being so they can join their schools”.
“It’s something that is on the rise. For example, you find students who earned call-ups to Lugulu because of their academic prowess changing schools after realising they are good in sports,” Akala said.
“Other schools offer to pay their fees, something that we, as an institution, cannot. For Lugulu, education comes first then co-curricular activities. With academic work, you have to pay first before you are admitted.”
CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT
Shimba Hills Sports department head Daniel Mulei says school management plays a big role in sports performance.
He said some principals support co-curricular activities, while others do not. Worse still, some just don’t care.
“Principals play a major role in all this. For a certain period, you might have a principal who supports sports, but once he or she leaves and a new one comes in, he or she might not be in the business of co-curricular activities,” Mulei said.
In some schools, however, the management might focus on certain sports and lock out other disciplines, to the detriment of students with talent in such areas.
“We are human beings and we can’t all love one sport. There are those who love football, basketball or even volleyball, but what happens if they go to a certain school, where the sport they love is not there? They will either not support those disciplines or introduce the sport they like,” he said.
“And that will definitely have an impact on the school. For a school that has been known to excel in a particular sport, all of sudden, there is a dip. To start afresh in a new discipline, it takes time to hit the top.”
POACHING
Luring players from other schools has also been blamed. Lugulu HoD Akala said player poaching has grown in leaps and bounds, and some schools even fear parading their best players in certain competitions for fear of losing them to rivals.
He said they have many volleyball rivals and most players prefer those already performing well in the sport to Lugulu, which is struggling to regain its lost glory.
“Really, it’s just out there that every player would want to associate with the school that is doing pretty well in the sport and not that which is trying to get a footing. That has been our undoing for a decade now. Maybe the script would have been different if the school was performing better,” Akala said.
ACADEMIC PRESSURE
Lenana games patron Peter Mbayi, whose school last won the national rugby title in 2010, said they placed more emphasis on education.
He said the pressure from parents wanting their children to perform well in academic work compelled the change in tack. Sports has been put in the back burner.
“If you look at the time the players come to train, it’s really squeezed. For a team to perform well, it has to invest in training time. But with demanding parents who want good grades in academic work, you can’t force the sport on the students,” Mbayi said.
SPORT AWARENESS
He said previously, rugby was the preserve of a few institutions, mainly the original national schools. Over the years, however, it has grown massively and given rise to stiff competition.
“Take a look at the schools now participating in the sport. What of the many schools, especially from the western part of Kenya? These players from Western are physically endowed, compared to players from this region. It goes without saying that the Western guys are favoured by virtue of physicality,” Mbayi said.
AGE CHEATING
We can run but not hide from the scourge of age cheating, a source from one of the schools said. He didn’t want to be named.
The source said many schools, including Laiser Hill (rugby 15s), St George’s High School (handball), Shimba Hills and Kaya Tiwi (basketball) and Cheptil (volleyball) have been banned before for fielding ineligible players, who are either overage or nonstudents.
He said unscrupulous schools gain an unfair advantage over other schools, thus pushing others with genuine students out of competition.
The schools deny young talented players and their schools the opportunity to thrive, he said, adding that the Kenya Secondary School Sports Association is tackling the problem.
“Age cheating was rampant in previous years but the KSSSA is punching above their weight to dim the vice. In most incidents, schools have fielded overage or non-schoolchildren so they can perform well and qualify for the national and the East African Secondary schools competitions. With the two events on offer, many schools go out of their way to cheat,” the source said.
“Other schools go out of their way to cheat to remain relevant. They want to keep the record and guard the title in certain disciplines.”
BUCK STOPS WITH ADMIN
KSSSA Nairobi region says the change in fortunes lies squarely with the school management.
Secretary general Moses Mbuthia said there could be other underlying issues, but management is the reason some schools have dipped in performance.
Mbuthia said school management comes in two forms — the principal and the head of sports. He said a school will only excel if it enjoys the blessing of the two parties.
He said some administrations are not keen on co-curricular activities and even if, for example, they get transfer and find out a certain school is good in a particular sport, they will go out of their way to cripple it by not offering support.
“And the reverse is true. When the said principal or HoD moves to other schools, they start to support the said games and, before you know it, that school begins to perform well, while the schools they left diminish in performance, or worse still, the sport is brought to its knees. In the end it folds up, never to be heard again.”