No pain, no gain: After rigorous training sessions and fierce knockout stages, teams get ready for national championships

Farida Fadhil (left) of Barani Secondary School is tackled by Ivy Kerubo (right) of St. Johns Girls High School, both from Kilifi County, in a girls second semi final handball match during the Coast Regional Secondary Schools Term Two A games at Malindi High School May 20, 2016. St. Johns won 9-4 to qualify for the finals. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Shimo La Tewa High School in Mombasa County, Coast Region will host this year's national secondary schools Term Two 'A' games scheduled for June 2 to 11.

Teams from eight regions will compete in netball, handball, football under-16 and rugby Sevens.

However, as schools prepare for their games, the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association has been urged to be firm on age-cheats.

During last month's Coast Region Term One games, St George's Kaloleni of Kilifi County were slapped with a two-year ban after they were found guilty of fielding 11 ineligible players.

Some students that were fielded by St George's were said to be from Tanzania and South Sudan.

Age-cheating across the country has been a major issue in school games. Several teams have also been banned for fielding ineligible players in previous games.

Meanwhile, national netball champions Kaya Tiwi School of Kwale County, will rely on home ground advantage as they seek to defend the title for the second successive year.

Last weekend, the school successfully retained girls' basketball title after defeating St Brigid's Kiminini 48-31 in the final. And the school's netball team will no doubt want to emulate their basketball team's exploits.

Coach Philip Onyango said he is ready to once again guide the girls to glory.

"We will be playing at home and we have no option, but to make 'our people' happy. We have been preparing for these games from last year and we are ready to retain the title," said Onyango.

"It is going to be tough, but we know we are equal to the task. This is another chance to prove our worth."

According to the pools, Coast representatives are in Group 'A' alongside Nairobi, Nyanza and North Eastern teams.