• Kenga played for Coast Stars, a former Mombasa football club, before later joining Tusker and later Thika United in the Kenyan Premier League.
• They expect to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that will see more training opportunities offered to local coaches and players.
At only 39 years of age, David Kenga’s journey to become an elite football coach in the United States fits the description of how sports can earn you a living.
The Biochemistry graduate from the University of South Carolina, kept his papers aside to pursue his passion — football.
Kenga was born and raised in Mombasa, went to Mombasa Primary School before proceeding to the famous Allidina Visram High School for his O-Level education.
He scored a B+ in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in 2000.
Kenga played for Coast Stars, a former Mombasa football club, before later joining Tusker and then Thika United in the Kenyan Premier League.
He later proceeded to the US to pursue a degree in Biochemistry.
Upon his return to Kenya in 2006, he was devastated to see most of the friends he played football with struggling with drug addiction.
The plight of his friends’ conditions pushed him to begin Elite Soccer Academy, which he hoped to use to inspire hope to budding footballers in Mombasa and keep them away from the drug menace that has been a big issue for local youth.
“My goal since I was a kid was to play professional football. But returning home after many years abroad only to find some of my friends affected by drug addiction was so disappointing,” said Kenga.
Through his academy, he has been conducting training with an aim to improve football standards within Mombasa County.
Last weekend, Kenga’s academy partnered with the Mombasa Department of Youth, Gender and Sports to train over 50 coaches drawn from grassroot football clubs in Mombasa.
They benefited from a one-day coaching training session at the Mbaraki Sports ground.
“One of the biggest challenges ailing football at the grassroot level in Kenya is lack of training equipment and facilities,” said Kenga.
Kenga, who holds a US Soccer 'A' Youth license — one of the highest coaching licenses for the youth in America, said the training aimed to develop players and design effective training sessions for teams.
He wants to give the youth an opportunity to excel in sports and concentrate on their studies, where they can also earn scholarship opportunities.
“We have been donating equipment to teams and I believe they will go a long way in improving their training sessions and developing the players,” said Kenga.
Mombasa County chief officer in the Department of Youth, Gender and Sports Innocent Mugabe said the county is planning to scale up the partnership with Elite Soccer Academy.
They expect to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that will see more training opportunities offered to local coaches and players.
Mugabe said the partnership will complement efforts made by the county government in raising football standards and other sporting activities in the region.
“It’s sad that teams still lack basic facilities like match and training kit. However, the department has been doing a lot over the years to address the issue and I believe through the partnership we can achieve more together,” said Mugabe.
Mugabe added a lot was in store for the sporting fraternity as the county plans to revive sports activities that were hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.