National men's volleyball team coach Gideon Tarus wants an all-inclusive team and enough time to prepare for major assignments.
Tarus lamented the inadequate preparations preceding last year's African Cup of Nations in Kigali, Rwanda. "We need at least three months of residential training and friendly matches with the likes of Tunisia to be ready.
"You can't assemble a team a week prior to the competition as we did with Afcon and expect results. "We were forced to pick only players who participated in the playoffs, which shouldn't be the case," he said.
Tarus said they only had players from the four clubs that reached the national league playoffs. They included General Service Unit (GSU), Kenya Prisons, Kenya Ports Authority KPA (KPA), and Kenya Defense Forces (KDF).
"We have many good players from other clubs who need to be brought on board. I urge the federation to give us ample time to mould a well-oiled team beginning with the Zone Five qualifiers that are likely to be played in August. If you look at the centre and right attacking players, they are so good not to miss out and there's healthy competition," he said.
Since 2015, the men's team have taken part in just one major international event — Afcon. Despite lack of exposure, Kenya managed a historic win against powerhouse Egypt 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 18-25) and a set breaker saw Kenya reign supreme over the North Africans 15-12.
Tarus, who doubles up as the GSU coach, reckons that with more players heading overseas, his squad for Zone Five and the inaugural CAVB Challenge Cup will boast a lot of quality.
"Abiud Chirchir is in France. He's currently the best player in the second tier. Enock Mogeni (Egypt) and Mike Chemos (Tunisia) are three of our best players. I know Chirchir will be available for the next assignment having missed Afcon. We still have other players going out. That tells you how competitive they have become."
