The sixth Kenya International Woodball Championships will be held between November 11 and 13 at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, coach Titus Mboya has said.
Mboya, who is also a woodball player, said this is the first time Kenya Woodball Federation will host the event at MMUST in a move geared towards spreading the game at the grassroots.
"Currently, we are having more of universities and institutions of higher learning teams but we are taking the woodball league to Masinde Muliro to help in capacity building," said Mboya.
He said the tournament will offer a reprieve for Kenyan players who could not attend the President’s Cup in Kampala due to limited funds coupled with the Ebola outbreak in the eastern parts of Uganda.
Meanwhile, Mboya has hailed the Kenya University Sports Association and East Africa University Games Association for adopting woodball as a sport, key ingredients for the growth of the game in the region.
Kenyatta University spearheaded woodball in Kenya and has managed to introduce other universities, including Egerton, Pwani, Meru, Taita Taveta, Kibabii and the Technical University of Mombasa.
“Our league is mostly played in universities with Kenyatta University being 'the mother' since this is where the game was first introduced," he added.
“Internationally, we have had several tournaments one of them being the Beach Woodball Camp in Entebbe, Uganda last year where we finished fourth.”
Mboya observed that they have also hosted high calibre tournaments including the Africa Woodball Championships on two occasions.
As they head to MMUST, Mboya is optimistic that such tournaments will help spur the growth of the sport.
“We hope that with numerous activities, we will be able to attract the government's attention which will also us in our quest to involve primary and secondary schools as well as corporates," Mboya councluded.
