Mitch Ocholla IN & Ben Ayimba OUT, Kenya Rugby 7s turns new page

Not entirely suprised by the breaking news and surely not the names bandied around. After a dismal 2010-11 season, the Kenya Rugby 7s team was bound to feel the heat and the first victims are the technical team. Again given the new office in Kenya Rugby Union, something(s) must give and they are turning out to be quite a number.
Mitch Ocholla (coincidentally played in the same 7s team with Ben Ayimba in the early 2000s, see here) has been propped to take over the 'hot seat'. Having played for the national 7s team though leaving prematurely thanks to nagging injuries and previously helping develop a worthy team in the name of Strathmore University Leos; Ocholla in our humble opinion has a lot of going for him to take over.
He also served as coach for Kenya's second string 7s team Shujaa in the last 2 years. A fair performance given the lack of playing time the team is accorded.

Image courtesy of www.nation.co.ke

True the national team has some of the biggest stars whose egos need to be checked , lack of concrete structures such as latest technical skills training regime, ample funding from the Union and corporate sponsors alike along with the campaign slogan of 'professionalising Kenyan 7s rugby'. At a micro-level, Mitch has been able to develop Strathmore rugby to a team worth challenging the big boys and this they should during the Kenya Cup and even went on to win this year's Impala Floodlights hosted by Impala RFC (which he knows all too well having played for the team too).
The resources accorded to him and the level of management might be different but at least he seems to understand the system well. Now the KRU has to give him a free hand in setting up shop with a new outfit and his first call will be to infuse some fresh blood and commit or discard the players who might have monopolised the national team much to the detriment of their performance.
August or thereabouts the national 7s circuit starts and the technical bench must sharpen their pencils and put down on paper what they believe will be a team worthy to take part and finish in a respectable position. The Safaricom 7s will also come up as a good test to give the team a run of challenging top sides in the IRB circuit, if Kenya manages to get some of them to attend.
There is also the issue such as securing proper grounds for the team(s) with Unga Grounds touted to be developed to a world-class facility but that is a longer term project for KRU. Player motivation and lifting their morale will be an urgent call.
Kenyan rugby fans must also tamper their expectations albeit in the short term but remember patience is never a virtue in most sporting disciplines.

Mr. Mitch Ocholla karibu sana and your work starts NOW!

For more on Ben Ayimba's departure read SportsNewsArena's interview with him here

Impala Floodlit Finals - KCB v/s Strathmore

The last 2 weekends have seen some rugby action at the Impala Grounds - home to one of Kenya's top rugby side Impala RFC. The action has been slightly tempered given that the main rugby 2010-11 season is coming to a wrap ( save for the Bamburi Super Series).
Last weekend semi-finals for the main tournament saw some upsets with Strathmore roping Mwamba in overtime while KCB made easy meal of hosts Impala. This represents a great outing for both finalists given their continued rise in the Kenyan rugby scene. For the former Strathmore with the exception of winning in the 7s circuit last season, this is a major upset and will stamp their presence. A triumph for them would be true icing for the college sides who operate under very tight schedules given the University calendar which comes first for most players.
KCB on the other hand is out to avenge for the near misses in the Enterprise and if the intent shown in the semi-final is anything to go by they start as favourites for the exciting action under floodlights. Tomorrow is a date and we shall keep you posted. You can follow us on Twitter @sportskenya OR check the following for updates @maikwambo @kenyarugby247 and check for the hash-tag #ImpalaFloodies OR #ImpalaFloodlit

KUSA University Leagues- Can this be the future of Kenyan sports?

Over the last few years, our analysts for this blog have been taking a
keen interest on university sports development in the country. There have been some interesting advances made at various levels we can reveal.
Mitch Ocholla-Player/Coach Strathmore University Rugby team


Going by the soon-to-be revived Kenya Universities Sports Association –KUSA (see link here), we can say sports development is about to witness a revolution. Though established years ago, KUSA has been dormant as most institutions especially the public ones engage in sports more out of recreation than anything else. With fairly good infrastructure, most of these institutions became ‘more academic than the academia’ and great opportunities were lost.
As far back as 1987, when Kenya hosted the All-Africa Games, huge potential was there from these institutions and the inspiration from watching these Games led to quite a number of sport s enthusiasts in some of these institutions taking up the challenge and launching into sports. University of Nairobi’s Mean Machine-rugby and Terrorists-basketball as well as Kenyatta University’s Black Blad-rugby and Pirates-basketball were some of the budding teams able to compete at higher levels of regional and national leagues respectively.
The entry of private institutions saw a small renaissance of sorts with institutions like United States International University (USIU) and Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) ruffling feathers with the former featuring in both hockey and basketball while the latter even managed to win the Division 2 League in 1999-2000 only for the authorities to back out at the last minute and boycott the Kenya Basketball Federation’s Premier League.
The 2000s has seen more private and public universities in the country and with this the number of competitive teams in the various disciplines can easily make a competitive league. Among them includes; rugby 7s and 15-a-side, hockey, basketball, football to name but the main ones.
The existing infrastructure can be enhanced and others developed, like the current development of a sports complex at Strathmore University. This can ensure good grounds for developing and nurturing our youth. The cohesion and time spent by students is good enough to develop competitive teams. Most institutions would also be well-suited to manage the games since they have fully fledged sports departments and sports offices. Why not even offer degree courses in sports – management, business and the world around sports? At least that way, we can eliminate some of the mediocre fellows running most sports associations and federations in Kenya.
We can pick notes from collegiate leagues in developed economies like the US where college basketball almost rivals the NBA and has proved to be a favourable hunting ground for NBA scouts. The same can be said with their American football. In the UK, universities and colleges have competitive rugby league teams and rowing teams which have developed rivalries which are legendary at many quarters.
Coming from the East Africa Universities Games at Kampala, this year will see a new chapter in University Games and Leagues. This can be the call for Kenya to start developing a stable and lucrative sports forum not just for now but future generations. It’s a thought ….