Schools: St John's Kaloleni not ready for games

Hellen Ochieng of kenya's St. John's Kaloleni Secondary School contols the ball against GS Remere of Rwanda during their East Afrca Secondary School Games football match at Kipchoge Stadium, Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County on August 28, 2016.[PHOTO:DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD]

National secondary school girls football champions St John's Kaloleni of Kilifi County are nowhere near being ready to defend their title.

Kaloleni's head coach Joseph Oyoo said they were at their worst. Mr Oyoo added that nine of his first 11 players sat for their Form Four examinations last year and five more transferred to other schools.

"I had to start from scratch and my target was to take the team to the Coast region games, but not to advance further, because we are not prepared to defend our national title," said Oyoo.

The coach added that he introduced the sport to Form Ones, who joined the school this year, saying it was difficult to assemble a winning team.

"We scraped through the Kilifi County games, where we struggled to edge out Mwijo 1-0 in the final and qualify for the Coast Region games.

"Actually, we could have lost at the sub-county level, but we managed to maneuver through. It has been really tough on our side, but we will give it our best shot," added Oyoo.

[Ernest Ndunda]