A heroic welcome was handed to the newly crowned national secondary schools volleyball girls’ champions Kosirai after they ended an agonising ten-year wait for the title.
At hand to motivate them ahead of the regional competition was Nandi Governor Cleophas Lagat, who gave the school Sh1m incentive. Hundreds of people from the athletics and volleyball flocked the school to celebrate the historic feat.
Kosirai Girls High School in Nandi County dethroned two-time national and one-time East Africa Secondary Schools volleyball champions Kwanthanze in the just concluded national secondary school games in Machakos. Team coach Richard Soi, said their victory against Kwanthanze in the nationals boosted their morale ahead of the regional contest.
“For the last 10 years, the team has been seeking the crown. We are now focused on the regional games and we certain that we will perform well owing to the morale and training we have embarked on,” Soi said. According to Soi, they are now perfecting on the areas that enabled them earn more points.
“The right attacker and centre players didn’t fully exploit their skills and we are now focusing on such areas,” he added.
Kosirai will be appearing at the regional games for the third time this year. In 2013 in Lira, Uganda, they placed third before ranking fourth last year in Tanzania. “I am aware of the tactics most of the schools employ in volleyball and having studied them, we believe we will counter the competition and bring glory home,” Soi said.
Team captain Winnie Jepkemboi said the focus is now is to rectify the several mistakes made by the team at the nationals. “I coordinated them on the court and we made several basic mistakes even though we won. At the moment, we are working on a strategy to improve on coordination and a balanced field,” Jepkemboi said.
Meanwhile, there was a special reason to celebrate and motivate a team that has trained her sights on the East Africa Secondary Schools volleyball title.
A big party was staged at the school on Thursday as a precise send off for the team to the East Africa Games set for Huye, Rwanda on August 15-23.
