Debutants TrailBlazers out to lead by example in KVF league

"I'm in the business of making these bunch of rejects become top class players in the country."

Those were the words of TrailBlazers Volleyball men's club founder Richard Joseph.

Joseph was speaking during the closing ceremony of the first edition of Kenya Volleyball Federation Strength and Conditioning Coaching Course at ABSA Sports Club in Nairobi on Saturday.

Joseph assembled players that had unceremoniously been shown the door by Equity Bank.
The Haiti-born coach also signed players from Kenya Forest Service, Strathmore University, Kenyatta University and estate clubs.

"I have lived in this country for 11 years and I'm an ardent volleyball fan. I have seen most of these players grow and it was sad to watch some good players shown the door for one reason or the other. I was heartbroken and I saw it fit to create a new home for them. We are a self-supporting team but we want to change how the sport is handled. We have a training regime that is adhered to religiously and the results will start to show soon," said Joseph.

"For starters we have introduced the strength and conditioning sessions in our club and if you look at our players you can notice the difference from other players. We are not leaving anything to chance and our eyes are on the Continental title. But this can only be achieved if we start by winning the KVF title which is in sight," Joseph added.

Blazers, who joined the national league this season, will start the campaign against Equity Bank on February 12 before they battle 2016 champions Kenya Prisons the next day.

Middle blocker Derrick Apat, outside hitters Juliard Mbappe, David Neeke, opposite Moses Omondi, who was feted the best attacker during the 2017 play-offs, libero James Mutero, and setter Jean Claude were all drawn from Equity Bank, while outside hitter Stanley Mutua is from Kenya Forest Service.

Others are setters Reagan Oselu and Clifford Omanya from Strathmore University and Ian Omondi from Kenyatta University, Moses Ndichu (Huruma), Daniel Ngatia (Malex), Nimrod Kamadi (Mwiki) and Phillip Toll (Lucky Summer).

KVF Strength and Conditioning Coaching Course moderator Moses Epoloto once again called on the Federation to professionalise the sport.

"Our players production is poor. We don't have existing academies, and our structures are not working if at all they exist," stated Epoloto who is the chairman of the KVF Coaching Commission and former national men's volleyball team coach.

TrailBlazers libero James Mutero, Kenya Ports Authority men's assistant coach James Ontere and Nairobi Prisons women's volleyball team coach Salome Wanjala who were among the 23 participants that took part  in the six-day course lauded the federation for the timely initiative.

KVF Deputy President Charles Nyaberi admitted the Federation had lagged behind in organising some of the courses.

"I think we are on the right track now. We want to thank TrailBlazers team and technical bench at large, National Olympic Committee of Kenya and Kenya Academy of Sports for making this a success," said Nyaberi.

The course was conducted by Richard Joseph, Geoffrey Onyango, Kevin Owuor, Fuad Yassin, Trizah Mudengani and Cathrine Abilla.