National women's hockey team captain Gilly Okumu has blatantly admitted that they are miles off their superior opponents in the Commonwealth Games.
The team has had a competition to forget after shipping in 35 goals in three matches—another unwanted record for the Jacqueline Mwangi young charges who have received a baptism of fire at the Club Games.
While Kenya's inferiority in Birmingham was expected, the heart-wrenching and disastrous loss to New Zealand (16-0) on July 29 was more of a cricket-like score than hockey.
Nonetheless, the 8-0 drubbing by five-time champions Australia was like a massacre and the chastening 11-0 rout by a merciless Scotland side threw a spanner in the works.
"Imagine conceding five goals in the first quarter. We lacked composure and panicked during the crucial periods leading to disastrous results. We failed to close the spaces, conceded many shot-corners, and ended up conceding goals from set plays," Okumu, who turns up for Strathmore Scorpions observed.
Even though the team stayed in a residential training camp at Moi Sports Complex, Kasarani for more than one month, Kenya never played a recognized friendly match.
The only friendly match Kenya played was against Uganda in March last year. This is denied coach Mwangi a chance to gauge the players and adjust accordingly
"As a team and as a country, we have a long way to go to return to the top. The teams we have faced are on another level and we can only get better by going back to the drawing to rectify the mess," said Okumu
Exposure will be key for the team going forward if the project is to succeed, she added.
