Let school games serve as feeders to national teams

This year's national secondary schools' games kick off on Tuesday to Saturday in Eldoret. This will be a sigh of relief to the sporting industry, especially coming full-scale after the 2020 disruptions by Covid-19.

The competitions will no doubt resuscitate talents in our schools lost during the pandemic. And there is no better way to stir up the talent than through school games. It clearly sets the pace for a sporting nation.

However, we have posted dismal performances in our key sports disciplines, which demands a rallying call to all stakeholders to put our sporting prowess on track.

Our dominance in athletics at the global stage has been on a downhill partly because school games, which stands out as the goose that lays the golden egg, were suspended two years ago.

Our production chains in training camps stalled. Our dominant races like men's 3,000m steeplechase, which we won gold for 53 years, appear to be slipping away to Moroccans and Ethiopians.

We have won the highest number of medals in athletics at the global stage. We also bask in a talent glut in rugby, volleyball, basketball and football thanks to school co-curricular activities.

That students from St Patrick's High School Iten made the national team to Olympic Games from 1972 to 2012, is no mean feat.

We had twins Kipkoech Cheruiyot (1,500m) and Charles Cheruiyot (5,000m), then Form Three students at the school, competing in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It was an exciting achievement but none of the athletes from the school has graced the games since 2012.

Sing'ore Girls and Kapkenda Girls also produced world beating athletes while Cardinal Otunga Mosocho (basketball) and Kisumu Girls (hockey) stole the headlines; all these were necessitated by the efficiency of our education curriculum.

Similarly, schools such as Kakamega School and Itiero High School in Kisii served as feeders for Harambee Stars.

Stars midfielder Eric Ouma, Simon Mulama and Mike Kisaghi are leading lights from Kakamega School while former winger Henry Motego, former striker Mike Okoth and the late Henry Nyandoro studied at Itiero High School.

Former Kenya Sevens captain Humprey Kayange stirred his rugby skills at Kakamega School. We should therefore take cue from these stars and build a strong sporting empire in our schools.

Unfortunately, the performances of these schools dropped drastically. And nowadays, they feature nowhere. The change of school calendar is to blame. Unlike before when school sports programmes were aligned with the international schedule, the trend is now different.

The government should streamline schools' co-curricular calendar. Let's inspire our young talents through the school games!