Gritty Kenyans keen to weather Tanzania storm in fight for glory

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As the clock steadily ticks towards the start of the 2026 Federation of East Africa Schools Sports Association (FEASSA) games that begin on Friday in Morogoro, Kenyan teams are gearing up for battle against their neighbours.

Their mission in Eastern Tanzania is crystal clear, but the road ahead is long and fiercely treacherous, for Kenya will arrive in Tanzania with an unyielding mandate to successfully defend the overall regional gong. Kenya wrestled the coveted trophy from arch-rivals Uganda last year when the country hosted the games in Kakamega.

However, with no home advantage, a climate they are not used to and a wounded Uganda gearing up for battle, the Kenyan students face an acid test as they look to prove that last year’s victory  was not a fluke.

Adding to the intense tension is the fact that Kenya is on this mission without the country’s most decorated heavyweights who were eliminated at the lower levels of competition.

The absence of the powerhouses leaves the new guards to shoulder the heavy burden of fighting tooth and nail to salvage national pride and keep Kenya ruling the region. While every dynasty faces transition, the landscape of Kenyan school sports heading into Morogoro looks radically unscripted. In a year that will go down in history as one that the gods of school sports rejected renown giants, traditional powerhouses will conspicuously be absent on the biggest stage.

In volleyball, the towering shadows of East Africa’s most successful girls’ school Kwanthanze and boys’ champions Cheptil will be missing. Similarly, handball courts will lack the indomitable presence of St Luke’s Kimilili while the rugby 7s pitches will miss the blistering pace of usually synonymous with St Perter’s Mumias Rough Machines.

The quintet who ruled 2025, winning both the national and East Africa titles, were the biggest casualties of the ruthless wave of eliminations that swept giants across the county.

Last year’s basketball 3X3 East Africa winners Ng’iya Girls will also not be in Tanzania to defend their crown alongside other giants who stumbled at the fiercely competitive lower level championships. Their absence leaves a vacuum which the young and ferocious challengers are eager to fill.

Former East Africa champions Kesogon Mixed Seniors School, who dethroned Kwanthanze at the nationals, will lead Kenya’s onslaught on the Tanzanian volleyball courts. Kesogon, alongside silver and bronze medalists Soweto Academy and St Martha’s Mwitoti, will be out to ensure that the trophy returns home.

Fresh from their national coronation, Chesamisi Boys Senior School will lead finalists ACK Chepsaita and Matiliku Boys Senior School as they look to firm their grip on the title won by Cheptil. Though Chesamisi are new on the East Africa stage, their coach Isaac Muresha is familiar with the high demands of playing top-level schools’ volleyball. Muresha guided Namwela to the 2023 East Africa gong.

He will be looking to write his name in the history books again this time under the Chesamisi banner. Speaking after their national conquest, Muresha said that they will remain focused and play one game at a time.

“We will remain focused because this will be my boys' first time playing on the bigger stage. I have been there before, but I cannot be overconfident because all teams are prepared and also because I expect the standards to be very high now because a lot can change with time,” Muresha said.

In hockey, St Joseph’s Girls Senior School Kitale who stamped authority as the new national champions during Term One games, will be out to defend their title and extend their East Africa reign to three years in a row.

Former winners Nyamira Girls and their Nyanza rivals Ng’iya Girls are also salivating for the gong. Nyamira, who return to the East Africa stage after missing last year's games. They will be looking to reclaim the trophy they lost to St Joseph’s in 2024, while Ng’iya, who will be making their second appearance, will be out to improve on last year’s bronze medal.

St Anthony’s Boys Senior School Kitale, who recaptured the national gong in Kisumu, will be out to achieve the same feat in Morogoro. They will be out to reclaim the title that has eluded them for the past five years.

Last year they came close but fell short when they finished second behind defending champions Kakungulu Memorial from Uganda in the round-robin contest.

Friends School Kamusinga who return to the regional stage this year after three years of playing second fiddle to Musingu in Western, are also eyeing the trophy they last won in 2019 in Arusha when they dethroned St Anthony’s who had lifted it the previous year in Musanze, Rwanda.

While the boys handball throne is vacant, girls reigning champions Moi Girls Kamusinga will leave nothing to chance when they lead St Joseph’s and Nyakach girls in a bid to return the trophy to Kenya. National boys holder Musingu and debutants St Joseph’s Boys Senior School Kitale and St Austin Matuu Day will be out to defend the title won by St Luke’s Kimilili last year.

Fresh from deep slumber, newly crowned national boys football champions Kakamega School’s Green Commandos will be looking to succeed where they have failed before. They return to the regional games having featured last in Musanze.

Together with newcomers St Mary’s Yala, who settled for silver following a 2-3 defeat in the final, will be hoping to recapture the title that Barding won exactly a decade ago when Kenya hosted the regional games in Eldoret. They will be looking to end Uganda’s dominance of regional schools’ football that has seen Kenya win only two titles since the inception of the games in 2002. St Anthony’s Kitale won the inaugural trophy, after which the Ugandans took charge and ruled for 14 years.

Barding broke their dominance in 2016 but the crown was snatched in 2017 by all-time winners St Mary’s Kitende when Uganda hosted the games in Gulu. Since then, Ugandans have jealously guarded the trophy only exchanging it as a treasured family heirloom. Bukedea Comprehensive School are the reigning champions. 

National champions St Joseph’s Royal Panthers and finalists Nyakach Girls Plateau Queens will be looking to wrestle the girls football title from the Ugandans. Kwale Girls were the last Kenyan side to list the trophy in 2018.

Kisii School will be out to defend the boys rugby 15s title alongside national champions Upper Hill and St Mary’s Yala who finished at third at the nationals. Kinale Girls and St Joseph’s Kitale will represent Kenya in the first girls 15s contest. In the shorter version of the game, newly crowned boys champions Butula Boys, Cardinal Otunga Mosocho and Friends School Bokoli will he hoping to defend the title won by St Peter’s last year. The girls duo of national champions Kinale and Kimobo will be on a mission to grab the title from the Ugandans.

National basketball champions Friends School Kamusinga and Butere Girls Senior School will lead Kenya’s onslaught in hunt for the elusive trophies. Lukenya Boys and the last Kenyan girls team to win the East Africa title in 2016 Kaya Tiwi who finished second at the nationals, will also be chasing regional glory.

Kenya also selected formidable composite athletics, swimming, tennis, badminton, table tennis, chess and cross country.

Netball, scrabble, cricket, lacrosse, beach volleyball, baseball, beach football will also feature in Morogoro. Kenya will also be looking to excel in primary and Special Needs Education (SNE) to defend the overall gong.