SportsKenya: SportsKenya's Qs & As - Bamburi Rugby Super Series

Friday 18 May 2012

SportsKenya's Qs & As - Bamburi Rugby Super Series - Herbert Mwachiro

This week we feature the (Bamburi) Rugby Super Series which enters its 3^rd weekend of action at various locations in the Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Nakuru while in Uganda it shall be at Kampala. We had a chat with Herbert Mwachiro – Regional Tournament Director who gave us a brief preview of the biggest franchise-based rugby tournament in Eastern Africa. Here’s the rest of it;

Herbert Mwachiro

SportsKenya: (Bamburi) Rugby Super Series 2012 is marking the 10th anniversary this year. Give us a review of what the journey has been since its inception

Herbert Mwachiro: 10 years of Super Series has seen it grow from a 4- team Kenyan event to an 8- team East African tourney mainly competed between Kenya and Uganda whilst Tanzania have participated twice.

SK: What would you say has been Kenya Rugby Union’s involvement?

HM: They are the owners of the tournament so their support is very much evident

SK: Successes and challenges in the last decade

HM: Competitive rugby, expansion into Uganda and development of universities, Western Kenya and Coast franchises. This tournament has developed players that have benefitted the national teams in both Kenya and Uganda.

SK: The game of rugby has grown in leaps and bounds but there has been concern over the 15-a-side game. Do you think the Bamburi Rugby Super Series would address such concerns?

HM: Definitely as competition becomes stiffer and players and officials forced to raise their game.

Super Series 2012

SK: What do you think ails the 15-a-side game and what are the remedies?

HM: There is need for more supportive technical structures in the form of qualified coaches at the grassroots level that will see players develop skills at an earlier age

SK: Kenya Rugby Union events including the Bamburi Rugby Super Series seem to attract quite some good corporate sponsorship, what would you attribute this to?

HM: Rugby is the fastest growing sport in Kenya and globally and the game has a lot of goodwill at present especially with Kenya being Africa champions.

SK: In addition to sponsorships, KRU events have attracted quite some interest from media houses including the SuperSport live screening of the Bamburi Super Series, Elgon Cup and even Safari Sevens. Your thoughts on this?

HM: This is positive for the game and will definitely receive more corporate support giving the sport much-needed finances in the long run and television exposure for players seeking to professional careers.

SK: Still in rugby, what are your thoughts about the 7s game?

HM: We (Kenya) have done well to compete at that level given the gap in resources with the more established teams. We need to consolidate those gains. Reaching the 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup was a big feat and honour that should not be forgotten. Those players gave it their all to reach there.

SK: Kenya Rugby Union has been a fairly successful sports organization. What would other sports associations and related organizations learn from KRU?

HM: (The need for) dedicated and committed officials who have true love of the sport.

SK: Sports organizations in Kenya have not learnt how to use or leverage their sports with the media, e.g. the ongoing Volleyball club championships .What would you advise them?

HM: It is important that they incorporate into their organisations’ individuals with rich sports marketing experience in Kenya and they are there; tough (getting them since they’re) extremely few!

SK: Comment on the following;

Proposed Sports Bill

HM: This needs to happen like yesterday and with proper input from sports stakeholders

Rugby 7s at the Olympics

HM: Fantastic!

Safari 7 s in the IRB Sevens World circuit

HM: IRB tournaments are usually played at sea level but the IRB should be lobbied to make one exception in the near future.

SK: What is the future of the Bamburi Rugby Super Series, especially since next year marks a decade since the launch of the tournament in East Africa?

HM: This is the 10^th Edition and the future is bright.

SK: The future of rugby both 7s and 15s in Kenya?

HM: We are no longer treated as underdogs and should therefore invest more in our players and facilities and structures. The only way is up.

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Profile of a Kenyan Sports Personality

This is a look at a Kenyan personality who may have influenced and continues to affect sports in Kenya and inspires all and sundry in sports. It is our hope that you shall reflect on this, take a moment to appreciate the sacrifices and efforts these heroes made. We do take a bow and wave our hats as we cheer true Kenyan patriots in sport!

This one takes a different twist. Having seen individuals grace this column, we have sought to recognize a team of individuals who did some exemplary work and set what has been an unbeatable national and indeed continental effort.

Kenya has never been a major power in shorter races 400m downwards. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this was a different script especially with the more exciting relay races. It is in 1968 when Kenya’s dominance came into play and with it a retinue of athletes who would become legends of their era.

The 4x400m races are usually the climax in the athletics calendar of events and in Mexico ’68, Kenya’s team including Charles Asati, Naftali Bon, Munyoro Nyamau and Daniel Rudisha ( the latter being the father to David Rudisha - current World and African champion in 800m) had other ideas coming 2^nd to USA.

In 1972, the 4 x 400m team was tweaked a bit and the final race was run by Charles Asati, Munyoro Nyamau, Robert Ouko and Julius Sang blazing the track to come up with the only other Gold medal from the Munich Games. But for this unprecedented move and none that has been done before by any other African nation, we salute our compatriots making them the Kenyan sprint legends!

Know your Sport

Swimming

Recently at some social setting we were engaged in a club quiz and one of the questions was about swimming. This sought to know which stroke was not among the competitive ones till 1956. One of our team-mates (we were 6 said that it was back-stroke while I argued it was butterfly, and the majority thought the former ….guess we should have stuck with my answer though!)

All the same, this sport has become one of the most competitive sports in any major sporting extravaganza in the form of the All-Africa Games, Commonwealth or indeed the Olympic Games. Kenya has lately featured in this very involving and energy-sapping sport. Thanks to the exploits of the Dunford brothers who have shone the spotlight on the country away from traditional sports in athletics, football, boxing and rugby. But what do you understand from the sport? Here’s a brief of it from different sources;

According to Wikipedia, swimming is based on the human act of swimming, that is, locomotion in water by self propulsion, with the goal of completing a given distance in the shortest amount of time. Swimming is distinguished from other aquatic sports (such as diving, synchronized swimming, and water polo) that involve swimming but the goal is neither speed nor endurance.

Competitive swimming consists of four strokes: butterfly, breaststroke, freestyle (or front crawl), and backstroke. When all four strokes are done during a race, it is called medley swimming (otherwise known as the individual medley, or I.M.). It is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).

The goal of competitive swimming is usually to have the fastest time to complete a given distance. Competitive swimming became popular in the nineteenth century. Swimming is an event at the Summer Olympic Games, where male and female athletes compete in 13 of the recognized events each. Olympic events are held in a 50 meter pool (long course).

There are 36 officially recognized individual swimming events – 18 male events and 18 female events; however the International Olympic Committee only recognizes 34 of them – 17 male and 17 female. Most swimming sport events are held in special competition swimming pools, which are either long course pools such as those used in the Olympic Games (50 m) or short course pools such as those used in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) (25 yards or 25 m). Competition pools have starting blocks from which the competitor can dive in, and possibly also touch-sensitive pads to electronically record the swimming time of each competitor.

In most competitions, the competitors are required to wear swimwear/swimsuits to adequately cover their bodies for the dip. However some suits have created controversies which have seen FINA coming up with standards to adhere to ensure competitors do not have undue advantage over each other.

The sport can also be pursued for personal fitness and is considered by fitness enthusiasts as one of the few that does an all-round job body of keeping the body in shape. It also requires healthy diets and rehydration (yes even if your body’s dipped in water)! Famous names in the sport include Mark Spitz – 7-gold medals winner 1972 Olympics and Michael Phelps – 8 gold medals - Beijing 2008.
For more info, check www.fina.org

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Friday 18 May 2012

SportsKenya's Qs & As - Bamburi Rugby Super Series - Herbert Mwachiro

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