KVF shooting itself in the foot
The termination of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) empowerment programme in Kenya spells doom for the development of the local game, especially the women’s teams.
This is after the push-and-pull between the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) and FIVB that has yielded nothing over technical support for the national women’s team, Malkia Strikers.
FIVB had seconded six coaches to the women’s volleyball team as part of targeted support to improve performance and change perception of African women volleyball at the global stage.
Through the programme, FIVB had invested close to Sh88 million in Malkia Strikers, since its preparations for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. KVF has failed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to continue the partnership hence leaving FIVB with no option but to end the deal.
Earlier this year, KVF demanded equal representation on the technical bench during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games pushing for at least three local coaches to work alongside three Brazilian coaches.
FIVB, however, stood their ground, offering two positions for local coaches, a proposal that was rejected by KVF's National Executive Committee.
With the new development Malkia Strikers month-long camp in Finland won't happen and to make things worse KVF seems to have no other plans. Under the FIVB programme, the national women’s team registered good results at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games and the 2022 World Championships as they went on to recapture the Africa title for the first time in eight years.
Malkia have lately registered poor results under local coaches after the team lost both Africa Zone Five and African Games titles to Egypt.
KVF ought to have considered the time remaining and let the programme continue before reviewing the agreement after the Paris Olympics. In addition, the understudy Kenyan trainers working under the FIVB coaches should be young and upcoming officials who are ready to learn new ideas and not the long-serving ones.
