•She send a passionate plea to budding athletes never to put all their eggs in one basket, but rather work hard to earn good grades in school
•The four-time Boston Marathon champion underscored the need to draw important lessons from the devastating effects of Covid-19,
Former world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba wants Kenyan youths interested in pursuing a career in sports to fine-tune their grades in school first just to make sure they have a fallback plan.
The four-time Boston Marathon champion underscored the need to draw important lessons from the devastating effects of Covid-19, saying the pandemic has taught them that it is quite risky to peg all hopes on sports as a source of income.
She send a passionate plea to budding athletes never to put all their eggs in one basket, but rather work hard to earn good grades in school so that they may secure good jobs from which they can still earn an income when push comes to shove in their sporting careers.
“Covid-19 has taught us a lot of lessons. You might be very talented, yes, but at times, depending on circumstances, you may find yourself having nowhere to utilise your talent. It’s been long since the athletes had a meaningful competition and this should serve as a lesson for the future,” says Ndereba.
The former Olympic silver medalist pointed out that passion is a key element of success in athletics and welcomed those who possess the pre-requisites for the sport to jump onto the Kenya Prisons bandwagon where she currently serves as an assistant commissioner.
“They are most welcome to the Kenya Prisons department. It’s only a matter of having the heart and passion. Without passion, I don’t think anybody can achieve anything because it’s the passion that drives someone,” she noted.
She added: “So if they are interested they are more than welcome. I would like to encourage all those who are talented to join the forces because by joining us, they’ll be able to develop their talent and also secure jobs as a security.”
Ndereba observes that Kenya has consolidated its position as an athletics super power largely due to government goodwill.
“I thank God for what our government is doing. Why am I saying this? We are have progressed in sports despite a few challenges here and there.”
She said the government has in the past few years introduced a rewarding scheme for those who perform well. “What the winners are being given today is not what we used to get during our time. The token has been increased,” she added.
She underscored the need for consistency, focus and determination as Kenya takes a shot at upgrading its facilities to international standards and believes the objective can be pursued with great success.
Ndereba agrees that a lot of ground has been covered and there is still so much to celebrate about the country’s milestones in athletics since independence.
“It’s not a must that we be just like the developed world. We are on the right track. We are not where we were in the 60’s. We are still coming up and growing. It’s just like the way a baby is born and it keeps on going through the development stages,” she said.
Ndereba, who also doubles up as sports coordinator, said all athletes attached to the Kenya Prisons department were released a few days after the government imposed a ban on public gatherings to enable them observe their individual training regimen as prescribed by coaches in an effort to maintain fitness standards.
She added that the coaches had devised a fitness maintenance program to ensure the athletes didn’t experience a lapse in performance when competitions resume.