Anthony Otwal who plays for Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology hockey team makes a point during the interview at Nation Centre.
In sports, coaches prefer their athletes big, tall and physically imposing in the hope that these attributes will make them stronger and faster than their opponents, thereby making them more competitive.
Indeed in contact sports such as rugby, as the athlete’s muscle mass increases, he or she will likely be able to lift weight more easily, and for longer periods of time.
But hockey player Anthony Ojwang Otwal who turns for Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultural Technology (Jkuat) in the Kenya Hockey Union National League has gone against the grain.
The player, who is 132.08 centimetres tall, is living with a condition called Short Stature, and has defied stereotypes associated with it to shine for his new club Jkuat, and Homa Bay-based KHU Super League team Bay Hockey Club.
Short Stature is a condition in which an individual’s height is in the third percentile for the mean height of a given age, sex, and population group.
Anthony Otwal plays as a forward for Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology hockey team.
In this case, Otwal’s height is considerably below average in comparison to that of his peers. People with the condition generally attain a height of 147 cm or less as adults.
Otwal joined Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultural Technology to study Bachelor of Science in Information Technology course in 2017, having scored B+ in the 2015 Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Examinations at Homa Bay High School.
As a student at Homabay High School, he played hockey for Bay Club, a community team in Homabay that plays in the third-tier Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Super League.
“I was a good hockey player despite living with Short Stature, and I’m happy that at no point did my fellow players and students look down on me. The coaches also gave me equal chance and treated me just like any other player. It was a level playing field. When I joined Form One at Homa Bay High School from St Peter’s Cape Hill in 2012, I joined the badminton team because I had learnt the sport from my visit to Nairobi in 2010 during which I attended a training session at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani Indoor Arena," Otwal recalls.
"At Kasarani, I also got to learn Kabaddi and other racket sports. It was easier for me to play badminton at Homabay High, and I performed pretty well in the singles competition in the school games. As a Form One student, I played in Nyanza Province Games (now renamed Nyanza Regional Championships). Presently, students’ bio-data is captured in a database to curb age cheating but back then, players’ names would be easily changed by unscrupulous individuals, and that’s how I missed representing my school at the national championships in the singles category despite having qualified,” he said during an interview at Nation Center.
Otwal, 29, expects to graduate with degree in a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology later this year. Due to his humble economic background, he differed his studies in 2019 due to lack of school fee. He describes himself as a jack of all trades.
“I’m a jack of all trades. When I moved to Form Two at Homa Bay High School, my friend Felix Mandela dared me to play hockey, and I took the challenge. I would still play badminton on the side, but I spared time to learn hockey and within a short period, I was good to go. It didn’t take long for me to learn the ropes.
"At Form Three, I played my first competitive match for the school hockey team and I impressed the coaches. I believe that’s where Bay Hockey Club officials noticed my talent and invited me to train with them during school holidays. Playing at Bay Club strengthened my resolve and exposed me as a player and in my final year in 2015, I was voted the Most Valuable Player at Nyanza Provincial School games," he says.
Otwal plays four different sports; para-badminton, para-table tennis, hockey, and football for little people. He has represented Kenya in badminton, and in table-tennis.
Otwal was born in Homabay County with two other brothers - Elly and Horace, but his mother Joyce Adhiambo died in 2009, and his father Samuel Otwal also passed away in 2019.
He says he knew he was different from his two siblings at the age of eight, but the fact that he was the same height as his mother gave him a sense of comfort and hope in life.
“I’m the last born child in a family of three children, all boys. My late father was of normal height, and my two brothers are also of normal height. I am grateful to my parents for exposing me to the outside world. They gave me the same opportunities as my brothers, and that really gave me confidence and reassurance that my short stature didn’t define my capabilities. I was the same height as my mother, and the fact that she was a nurse and an accountant gave me hope that in future, I would make it in life. My brothers were supportive and they are still are to date,” the bubbly Otwal notes.
Otwal, who plays the position of a forward in hockey, observes that having been given leadership roles at both primary and secondary school in a way saved him from being the laughing stock of his peers.
“Definitely with my stature, I attract attention. Children would laugh at me and some would think I was their agemate. I thank Homabay High School Principal Andrew Buop who entrusted me with the role of captain of the hockey team and head boy at the same time. That really helped me. I earned and commanded respect and that also built my self esteem. I would walk around undeterred. In fact, my friends are the ones who would be offended when people stopped to look at me and laugh at the same time,” Otwal says.
With friends from the Short Stature Society of Kenya under President Joakim Mwangi, Otwal owns a modern sportswear outlet along Tom Mboya Street in Nairobi.
Anthony Otwal during the interview at Nation Centre.
The badeqshop has previously kitted Kenya’s national hockey teams, the five-a-side men’s hockey team, and tennis teams.
Due to lack of school fee, he played for Bay Club for two seasons hoping to raise money for his university education. After joining Jkuat, he still helped his father to run a small business to try raise money for his school fee.
“Bay Club performed well in 2017 and won the National League title, earning promotion to the Super League the following year. In that period I got some money and enrolled at Jkuat. Luckily,I was given the green light to play both in the league, and in the Kenya University Sports Association (KUSA) championships.
"I joined Jkuat when the team was competing in the National League, and we were promoted to the Super League in 2019 where we have been competing. Last season, we didn’t perform well and we will now play in the lower-tier league,” Otwal says, adding that the team hopes to return to the second-tier league.
He has Short Stature Society of Kenya’s vice chairperson, Ruth Mueni, to thank for his good run in para sports .
“In one of the competitions, I met Mueni who asked me to join para badminton. Since I had played badminton, I agreed. In 2019, we competed in Pan Am Para Badminton Championship in Uganda, and won a silver medal in the singles category, and bronze in the mixed doubles event with Jesus Salva from Peru. That’s was my entry point in para games. We were meant to travel to France for the World Para Championships but did not due to financial constraints,” Otwal, who works as a freelance Information Technology consultant, says.
“I then competed in the third Farza International Para-badminton tournament in Dubai in 2021 and although I was eliminated at the quarter-finals stage in the singles category, we won a bronze medal in the doubles event with my team mate Felix Kimani. I had begun to make a name for myself but due to wrangles in the local federation, Kenya was banned by the global body. Recently, the ban was lifted. My ultimate goal is to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games in any of the disciplines,” he says.
Otwal challenges parents who hide children living various disabilities or condition to give them exposure.
“Previously parents used to hide children living with disability, or conditions like mine because society thought it was a taboo. Many people missed out on various opportunities in matters sports, education, among others. I hope things were different then, but there is hope. People like us now have a chance to prove that this is just a condition and one can do anything if he or she puts the mind to it. I’m short in stature yes,but does that define me? No! In fact, I’m able to do a lot of things that my peers cannot do,” Otwal cheekily says, adding that he is in a “complicated” relationship.
He has challenged the government to renovate the City Park Hockey Stadium in Nairobi.
“With the poor condition of City Park Hockey Stadium, local hockey standards have dwindled and this starts with selection of the national teams. Some players don’t make the cut on merit and so when they reach the international stage, they don’t deliver. We can’t do the same things and expect a different results. KHU should also style up and do things right as far as management of the sport is concerned,” said Otwal, who looks forward to being a hockey and racket games coach in future.
