Growth of school games after Covid-19 lull quite refreshing
Agoro Sare High School celebrate with the title after winning the boys' football final at the Nyanza Region Secondary Schools Term Two Games at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology in Bondo on July 25, 2023. Agoro Sare beat Kisumu Day 7-6 on post-match penalties.
What you need to know:
- The regional games have already taken place and the nationals will be held next month in Kakamega County.
- The Kenya Secondary School Sports Association has done a very commendable job and their organisation was superb. The matches were only marred by complaints of ineligible players being fielded in place of deserving students.
Since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, the effect it had on sports has never been quantified. It was a dreaded infection and thus any crowding was frowned upon.
The government, just like other countries in the world, used universally accepted methods to minimise the spread of coronavirus. But however hard they tried, the pandemic had its repercussions.
Schools were closed for some seven months and even after they reopened, there were no sports activities allowed in the institutions. The academics choked the students for some years and they took out their frustrations setting their dormitories ablaze just to get some rest.
This state of affairs meant that many talented students went through school without ever getting a chance to hone their sporting skills; a task that the schools do in the best way possible.
This year, sports are back in full swing and we have witnessed a lot of enthusiasm from the general public over the football games in sub counties up to counties.
The regional games have already taken place and the nationals will be held next month in Kakamega County.
The Kenya Secondary School Sports Association has done a very commendable job and their organisation was superb. The matches were only marred by complaints of ineligible players being fielded in place of deserving students.
Many schools had tried the same sleight of hand to gain unnecessary advantage over the honest ones; corruption was rife in the games just like some schools aid their students to cheat during national examinations just to get a higher mean grade for the institutions!
Every sector of our existence in Kenya is not spared from this malaise and one even wonders what morals we are implanting in our young children! We have become totally shameless and there is indeed no need to lecture the culprits about it.
No need to be worked up over corruption; perhaps they are right and better to teach the children just how to survive in this jungle.
We do hope that by next year, the association shall do its best to get rid of these cheats from the zonal levels and clean up the mess once and for all.
What we find rather appalling is the fact that each region has one representative school.
This does limit the scope of talent discovery in these games. It would not be hard to increase the number of schools per region and at the same time afford more space for the regions with the most competitive teams opting them in through the policy of best losers or something of the sort.
This will at the same time spur the sleeping schools that treat co-curricular activities as if they are a nuisance. There were schools that used to perform well academically and in sports; these days, they seemed to be resigned and colourless.
Now we know about a school in western Kenya known as Shanderema because they took the Western Region crown. If it wasn’t for football, we must admit we wouldn’t have heard of it!
Over to you Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association.
