Sports body to establish talent centres in Kenya

Tobias Samba,29, the leader of Samba Foundation which sponsors the Samba Football Academy in Tudor with Sports Commissioner Gordon Oluoch during a recent tournament dubbed "Kicking Drugs out of Mombasa". [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Kenya Academy of Sports to unveil talent search programmes in all counties by 2020

In a bid to tap local talent, Kenya Academy of Sports has launched a countrywide search programme, which will help nurture greenhorns.

The academy's acting Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Oluoch, said the talent search academies will be established in all the 47 counties by 2020 and will involve 25 disciplines.

"We have seen fruits of FC Talanta Academy since its inception in 2012 and we plan to roll out the talent search programmes to all the 47 counties," said Oluoch.

The former Sports Commissioner spoke at Bahari Beach Hotel in Mombasa during a three-day workshop, which brought together top officials from FC Talanta, Communication Commission of Kenya and Ministry of Sports. The workshop ended yesterday.

Oluoch said Football Kenya Federation has failed to have a reliable feeder team to the national team Harambee Stars.

"FKF just wait for talent to be nurtured, but it is the responsibility of the federation to search, tap and nurture young players and coaches," said Oluoch. Other top officials at the event included FC Talanta chairperson Wanjiru Mahiu and Director Douglas Matemo.

Oluoch said Kenya has a generation of gifted young players, who needed to be nurtured.

"As Government, we are happy and encouraged to support more sports when we see players grow to conquer the world," said Oluoch.

Wanjiru said FC Talanta takes pride in producing several players, who ply their professional trade in Sweden, among other countries.

"We have decided to partner with other stakeholders to roll out FC Talanta programmes to all counties. We will work closely with schools to groom talent from primary level," added Wanjiru.

At the county level, Matemo said they would not be restricted to only promoting football, but would also focus on other disciplines.