Success story of football academies in Kenya

When Martin Lemayan reached Form 3 in Narok High School, his parents could not afford his school fees. “I was born in a big family; the burden of educating everyone became too much for my parents,” he says.

But Lemayan, 19, was not just your average bright student whose education had to come to a tragic end because of lack of funds. He was into football and was among the best in the school.

By his own admission, had he wanted to complete his education, his parents would have found the money somehow. But he was a “willing collaborator”. In 2010, he decided to visit his brother at Kariobangi in Nairobi. “The plan was to stay for two days,” he says.

As they unwound in the evening, his brother mentioned of a talent academy that had been advertising trials for talented footballers, volleyballers and musicians. Lemayan decided to stick around for two more days so that he could attend the trials at Nyayo Stadium.

Upon arrival at Nyayo, there was a hitch; people had organized themselves into teams. A random coach decided to fix Lemayan in his team. After all, they were just trials. Lady luck was on site.

“Our team won the tournament and I emerged as the top scorer,” he says. Lemayan, a striker, was told to go pack his belongings and report to the newly-established National Youth Talent Academy (NYTA) at Karen. Today, the High school drop-out has completed several computer packages and plays paid football with Division One side, FC Talanta.

NOT ALONE

The club, currently in position five, is sponsored by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK). Today, they play KRA in one of the hotly-contested Nairobi derbies in the second-tier league.
Lemayan is one story from the Nairobi-based talent academy, an initiative that was started in 2010 to nurture talent among the youth. And he is not alone.

Mandela Shela, a former street boy, has been given a new lease of life by the academy. “Our scouts found him on the streets of Nakuru,” says Douglas Ratemo, the academy’s chief executive officer.

Today, Mandela is a defender with FC Talanta. As for Musa Bashir, growing up in Garissa town, he thought his football talent would go to waste just like those of other talented but needy and undiscovered Kenyan students. In 2010, though, the academy scouts toured Garisa and Bashir, 18, was among the lucky few. Inside the academy, they were taught what would pass for mundane: defining football, the offside rule, and how and why it is important to stay neat.

In 2010, the academy players were also selected to represent Kenya in the U-17 football competition in Rwanda.

“We also participated in the U-20 Liberty Professionals Tournament held in Ghana the same year,” he says. The group also won the Kagame Cup with the U20 and finished third in Morocco during the Libya Basin Cup. Bashir returned home with a trophy for discipline.

Last year, Bashir, a full back defender, went for trials with the Hong Dong football club in China where he has been for the past six months. “The club has decided to retain me; it is paying well and I came back with a substantial amount of money to help my parents,” says Bashir, an alumnus of County High School in Garisa. His task now is to get a letter from Football Kenya indicating that he is a Kenyan international, which will enable him get a Chinese work permit in March next year.

Most of the NYTA graduates are plying their trade with the FC Talanta, which was specifically formed to serve as a safety net for those who might fail to secure placements in other clubs.

Besides Bashir, the academy has produced Abdul Malik, who plays in Sweden, Andrew Murunga (Tusker),  John Nairuka (Thika United) and Dashan Lebembe (Kakamega Homeboys).

Ulinzi FC is the biggest beneficiary, with four ex-NYTA players - Justin Olwang’a, Anthony Muriithi, Peter Opiyo and Enoch Nabwire. Peter Kimani, 19, also graduated as a winger last year.

A fact that most might not know is that the academy was inspired by the 2008 post-election violence. With the country in flames, the most affected were the youth. Being at the epicentre of the violence, they either torched and looted other people’s property or were slashed and clobbered by the opposing groups - or shot (at) by policemen.

With the realisation that the youth had been used by politicians to further their selfish interests, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports launched a survey to unearth the reason behind the widespread participation of young people in the melee. The Youth Fund, although welcome and sufficient, was not the answer. Most young Kenyans said they are not cut for business and that it was wrong for the government to assume the funds could free them from poverty.

TRAILBLAZING AFRICA

It was then that Unicef floated the proposal of launching a talent academy. Jonathan Coles, the technical advisor to Unicef on NYTA and FC Talanta, says the academy is living up to its goal of being the trailblazer in Africa.

“The biggest success is that the government of Kenya has taken over at the national level. We would like it devolved to the counties,” said Coles.

So far, other African countries like Ghana, South Sudan, Botswana, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe have travelled to Kenya to copy the model back home.

To date, Unicef has pumped some Sh200 million into the programme. The government has since taken over, starting this year with an initial Sh23 million. Some 300 talented young Kenyans have gone through the system that supports the arts, men’s and women’s football, women’s volleyball and men’s rugby.

The next batch of 150 students were inducted on Friday at Kasarani where the academy has been moved to from the Sabina Country Inn in Karen.

Ratemo said President Kenyatta will soon preside over ground breaking for construction of a full-fledged academy that will cost Sh1 billion.