Football help kick out drug abuse

Junior stars academy shines where many have failed

Junior Stars Academy using the sport to inspire change and identify talent in an area well known for drug trafficking

Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama is arguably Kenya’s most well known player.

Brought up in the now defunct JMJ Academy, Wanyama’s talent was discovered at a young age and his story remains a major inspiration.

One such academy, that is hoping to identify another talented player is Junior Stars Football Academy in Mombasa.

The idea of the academy came up after the 2008 post-election violence where thousands of Kenyans lost lives and property and many others were displaced causing tension and grief in the country.

It was at this time that a woman with no football background, Mariam Mpaata, came up with the idea of a football academy amid such tension.

“Ironically, later it dawned on me that it was the very essence why the programme should exist, to diffuse any tension and bring back children to the playground.

“It is amazing how ten years later, through football and mentorship programmes we have impacted over 70,000 young people from the rich diverse Kenyan backgrounds.

“These children represent the unity that Kenya should have. They are the sole purpose of maintaining peace among ourselves, they are our future. It is the highlight of my day when children from the less fortunate families interact with children from the more fortunate families. 

“Sometimes I meet children who can hardly smile or communicate in English after several football activities with other children, their smiles are priceless and amazing,” she says.

Junior Stars, is managed by Junior Stars Youth Development Programme which runs several other outfits including the Watoto Africa Soccer Awards, which has previously been graced by the Totternham mid-fielder Victor Wanyama in 2013 and recently Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho.

What stands out about the football club is the consistency infusing both players of affluent and those from poor backgrounds. This is a core value of all our initiatives says Mpaata who did not have any football background at the time of its formation.

“It all started when my son who was eight years old broke the windscreen of my neighbour’s car. I tried to enroll him into a football academy because I knew he would break something again," she recalls.

She says she started the academy with only 15 boys who played their first training session on April 7, 2008 and since then much has changed as the academy, transforming the leadership of the small club into a community based organization.

The players hail from schools and community teams. “It is amazing to see young boys and girls have embraced football more. It feels great. Once the games are done we host an award ceremony dubbed WASA gala during which outstanding teams and players are recognized and awarded,” she says.

The academy has also faced several challenges which the founder says have somehow stopped them from achieving their full potential. “We have limited resources and yet we have so much we would love to achieve. It must be noted that talent development is a very expensive venture but not an impossible one," she adds.

“Most people are too impatient to invest in this area. I believe that this is where we go wrong. Africa has so much talent that needs to be utilised for its own benefit. If we had at least two professional academies in each county where young talented players can camp and go through training throughout the year, I bet we could have as many Wanyama’s as we wanted," she says.

It is rare to find women running successful football programmes, sticking here for ten years means this something worth maintaining. "I also believe that this success has not come from one quarter, it has taken a lot of support from many people, corporate and institutions for us to be achieve what we have done in ten years," she adds.