By Oscar Pilipili

Upper Hill High's coach George Mayienga targets to convert the institution into a basketball power in Eastern Africa in next two years.

"Upper Hill is known for football and rugby but my desire is to see basketball being part of the school at the highest level," he said.

"My expectations are high and the good thing is that all stakeholders including the administration and players have promised to work closely with me to ensure our targets are met," he told FeverPitch after leading his team to a Nairobi pre-season tournament title at the school last Sunday.

His first priority is to see Upper Hill win national secondary schools games for the first time.

Kakamega County hosts the term one competition that involves basketball, hockey and athletics for both boys and girls.

Hosts Upper Hill High School basketball team after winning the Nairobi Schools Pre-season tournament. [PHOTO:JONAH ONYANGO/STAndard]

"Our immediate focus is on provincial games which we must win to qualify for the nationals," he said.

"We’ll plan the way forward after reaching the nationals," Mayienge added.

Track record

Charging by his track record, Mayienga is no coach of mean achievements. He has won five national titles, four with Kamukunji (girls) and two at Laiser Hill (boys).

It was his combination with Peter Orero that saw Kamukunji dominate schools? basketball in the late 1990s winning the games from 1997-98 and 2003.

The two are back together again at Upper Hill and Mayienga predicts a bright future for their basketball team.

"I still hope to do the best because I’ve done it before," said Mayienga.

The school, better known as Joka Upper, plays in Nairobi Provincial league where they finished runners-up last season and Mayienga is aiming even higher.

"God willing we want to top the competition this season and qualify for Kenya Basketball Federation division two league," he said.

Maximum discipline

"The boys feel they should be at the top and are eager to play at East African Games in Arusha," he revealed.

"What I’ve told them is that success comes with determination, focus and maximum discipline," Mayienga added.

His arrival at Upper Hill coincided with the school being selected by United Nations Children Education Fund (Unicef) as a regional talent centre for football and basketball.

Mayienga feels the initiative will help nurture talent and develop sports at the school and Kenya in general.

"Unicef programme has been long overdue what I urge them to come up with age group structures for the under-10s, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 to help identify talent at early age," he suggested.

The veteran coach has a lot of faith in his players who include Samuel Dede who was Most Valuable Player at the pre-season tournament, captain Gerard Odhiambo, John Machok, George Ngararo and Martin Mugambi.

He praised Mugambi who is in form two describing him as a ‘very promising junior with great potential.’