Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has halted sports innthe country, hockey stakeholders have made rallying calls to the Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) to introduce more tournaments in a bid to enhance competition once the league resumes.
Besides the KHU leagues, there is only the annual Betty Tioni (July) in Nakuru and Shaban Yusuf Memorial (October) in Mombasa. Wazalendo coach Fidelis Kimanzi said players need more matches on a weekly basis to maintain their fitness. He said universities are competitive because they have their own mini-league. He hinted that the introduction of tournaments mid-week will be ideal to keep the players fit and busy.
“Tournaments are limited. We need more matches especially midweek to give the players the much-needed fitness. It is hard to play one game in a month and expect to perform at the top. Thumbs Kenya Universities Sports Association (KUSA), who have ensured their students get the much-needed exposure through regular matches.”
Thomas Mucheni, who tutors women’s side Sailors, said the development would help stabilise the mental strength of players. With matches spaced out, he said new tournaments come in handy and will not affect the existing fixtures.
“For example, Sailors played last on March 1 and were expected to play again after four weeks before the coronavirus pandemic messed up everything. Sometimes, teams play after six weeks which is not so good because the mental stability of the players get affected. When I started playing club hockey in 2005, we had so many competitions which no longer exists. KHU should look into this matter.”
Kenya College of Accountancy University (KCA-U) coach Willy Otieno said to make the league competitive, more teams should be added to the top tier. KCAU are currently in the super league.
“The KHU men’s Premier League has only 10 teams, the women’s top tier has eight while men’s Super League has 12 teams,” said Otieno who doubles up as the USIU-A Mashujaa coach.
“The Super League for me is like the main league because of the superior number of teams and players play week in, week out. If we can have more teams in the top tier, it would add value as players can get more playing time. You can’t play only 18 matches in 12 months and be competitive,” he lamented.
