Baseball Federation of Kenya President Titus Mutwiri explains a point to teachers during a training at the Kisii Culture Hall/ANGWENYI GICHANA
Baseball Federation of Kenya (BFK) has released regulations and guidelines for the selection during the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) Term Two national championships.
In a circular
to the KSSSA and all heads of schools, BFK president Titus Mutwiri said the competition
will feature a team format for boys and girls competing separately.
Baseball is
among six newly introduced sports in the secondary schools’ Term Two calendar.
Others are lacrosse, chess, cricket, scrabble and beach volleyball.
The sport will be played at the regional level in Nairobi, Western,
Rift Valley, Central, Eastern and Coast regions.
The regionals
will be used to select teams for the national championship to be held at MPesa
Foundation Academy from July 28 to August 1.
Mutwiri said the entry is open to schools that can field a
team of 14 players. “The players must be bona fide students of a particular school
within the age cut-off as per KSSSA and FEASSA age regulations,” said Mutwiri.
“Players
participating in the secondary baseball competition must be under 19 years at
the time of the competition. Schools should provide valid student
identification documents confirming the players’ age and school status.”
Mutwiri noted that prior registration of players in the KSSSA online portal is
not mandatory being a new sport.
Since the
sport is not sponsored by the Ministry of Education, each team will pay Sh5,
000 to cover officiating and other related costs.
Each school
will plan for its own accommodation with the host school.
However, KSSSA
and the Ministry of Education will sponsor teams for the FEASSA games in
Morogoro, Tanzania, from August 12 to 23.
He noted
that the competition format shall depend on the number of participating teams
and may include group stage, round-robin, or knockout stages.
Mutwiri asked
all teams to adhere to discipline, fair play, and sportsmanship.
At the same
time, the six newly introduced disciplines will be rolled out fully from the
grassroots to the national levels next year.
KSSSA
Secretary General David Ngugi asked schools to start preparations early ahead
of the rollout of cricket, lacrosse, baseball, beach volleyball, scrabble, and
chase.
The new
games will be played at the regional and national level this year through
collaboration with the respective federations.
“We agreed
with the federations to hold competitions to determine the teams that will
feature at the nationals,” remarked Ngugi.
He added: “We
held some of the games in Kakamega last year as demonstration sports. Some
schools have already embraced them.”
Ngugi
welcomed the introduction of new disciplines in the KSSSA calendar.
“We are
expanding space for our kids to participate in more disciplines. We have been
allowed to add more games to our calendar following numerous requests. Kids
will now have a wide range to choose from,” noted Ngugi.
