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Wednesday, April 12, 2023 –Apart from reporting at school to learn, young boys in Kakamega Town also love football.
Every weekend, Saturday and Sundays after church, you will meet tens of them with football boots and small handbags loaded with their kits ready to join training sessions at Bondeni Primary School near Kakamega Main Market.
Homenews.co.ke had a sit down with head coach Anthony Odhiambo on Wednesday April 11 to learn more on how the team started and where the idea came from.
“I did not want to see kids idle around. You know these kids when left to roam around, they end up becoming street urchins. Also, these small boys love football very much and its through it that they learn how to socialise,” main coach Odhiambo commonly referred to as Tony told this writer.
Additionally, he revealed to us that the team, with the help of the former Kenyan International Vincent Kwarula, was initiated in the year 2021.
Mr. Kwarula, who currently resides abroad, keeps checking on the team more often to know what could be lacking and what they need to improve on.
The former Harambee Stars player also takes care of training equipment and occasionally travels home to meet the boys in person.
His main focus being to mentor young talents and take them from one level to the next using the little resources he has.
“I have decided to take the team on my wings. I intend to take it as my academy team. I am working on registering it with Football Kenya Federation FKF.
“These are talented youngsters who remind me where I came from,” he explained in a past story.
Currently, the team has 65 young players aged between 5 and 15 years and, upto now, it has won three tournament cups – one in Mumias Kakamega County and two in the neighbouring Vihiga County.
“In 2021, we won under 13 tournament in Mumias and in 2022 we did two competitions and won both under 9 and under 12,” Coach Odhiambo further disclosed.
Asked how he got together with the former Harambee Stars defender (Kwarula), Odhiambo said it started on Facebook and each step led to another.
Apart from football, Kwarula, through his foundation, recently helped settle a homeless woman – 32-year-old Ann Wanjiru Muchina and her two-months-old son – he met in the streets of Nairobi during a recent visit.
The retired right-back is currently based in the USA where he works as a physical education teacher and coach at a renowned football academy in New York City.
So far, the national team and Kenya Breweries key defender has nurtured so many talents both in the U.S and back home in Kenya.
