Ladies Training Session, Awesome Skills & the Kenyan Football Federation

Today we left early, surprisingly everyone was on time to leave, it has become a bit of a gamble on when our companion and driver, John will come to pick me up 🙂 makes it more of an adventure…. Fair to say he is a top man, but his time keeping makes mine look impeccable.

We picked up Millie, the older sister of Mercy who is one of the Kenyan U17 players. She is 20, and has also represented Kenya at the youth level. A very good attacking player, small, but very quick, great on the dribble, good link up play, and for her height, fantastic in the air! On our way to coaching, just over an hour outside of Naiavasha, we stopped and bought breakfast, Millie had been traveling since 6 am and hadn’t had any breakfast yet, a quick stop for yoghurt and some snacks and water and we were on our way.

We arrived at the football pitch, which looked very lively, when we got there, the school team was waiting, Pasnega Girls team, along with the team were Mercie, Maco, Caroline and their Coach, Emman Wabuchi all from Kasarani (where we coached Thursday and Sunday). We were told there was a better pitch up the street at a Cathedral so we headed up the road and got ready for training. We worked for around an hour and forty-five minutes, completing coerver footwork in pairs before going into a little passing session. The objective was to improve body shape, and movement before receiving the ball, as well as continue to emphasize awareness and scanning. By the end of the session the ladies began to understand it, as always they worked incredibly hard and we an absolute pleasure to coach.

We broke for lunch, and headed back into town, buying water for the ladies, along with bread and milk. After lunch we had arranged for another school team to come and play in the afternoon.

For this match we had a surprise for the ladies, a full kit donated by Barry Richardson from Wycombe Wanderers. The girls were buzzing to say the least. So after a light lunch, fluids and new kit we were ready to play. The ladies lead a warm up and then we kicked off…..

I can honestly tell you that I witnessed some of the best, most creative and enjoyable football I have seen on this trip. Maco, bossing the midfield, she reminded me of Gascoigne, flicks and tricks, keeping the ball ticking over, threading passes through to front men and wide players. What a player!!!! We then come wide to Mercy, playing wide right, a slight winger with plenty of tricks and pace, who can also come off the line to link up play, a bit like Januzzi at United, great quality and you know there is plenty more to come. Caroline, an uncompromising central defender, tough as nails, great in the air, quality as a one v’s one defender and very comfortable playing off her right side and going forward with the ball. Captain of the side with great leadership qualities. Because of her lack of height at center back we will liken her to Cannavaro. And finally there is Millie, I’ve already described her earlier, it could be possible to liken her to Tim Cahill, just because of her great aerial ability considering her height.

The girls were fantastic, passed the ball very well on what was still a lively surface in comparison to what we all may be used to playing on. Looking to take players on, playing from the back and enjoying their time on the ball, an absolute joy to watch.

After the match both teams gathered in the middle of the pitch, we talked to the ladies about how their athletics should go hand in hand with there academics, we handed out kit and boots to both teams and then surprisingly a gentleman from the Kenyan Football Federation appeared. Somehow he had heard about the match, and came to watch, it was great to have him there, to talk to the ladies and endorse what both Hesbon and I were doing, to top it off, he donated money to the ladies to buy snacks on the way home! Happy days!!

It was a great day, again, we coached players, we fed players and we were able to hand out kit, it doesn’t get any better than that!!

Two things that struck me today, firstly, at the start of the day where we were lead in prayer by a young Muslim lady, everyone joining hand in hand in a circle, everyone else Christian. The fact that we did this showed that everyone is equal, what an ideal notion 🙂 Secondly, some ladies began cramping in the afternoon, Mercy included. As you may know one of the primary causes of cramping is dehydration, lack of fluids. It is a necessity for these ladies and indeed all athletes to take fluids, so for next time I will know to budget much more for a this trip so that I can ensure we have plenty of water for the players.

Simple things make for the biggest of differences.

Thank you for reading and thanks again to Bazz and Wycombe for the generous donation!!

Soccer Training, Kit and Lunch

On Sunday we returned to the same town that we visited on Thursday, but this time prepared. Armed with Lunch, enough kit to dress a small army and four different sessions to prepare for.

We were on it!

We arrived and trained the younger boys first. We completed dribbling skills at the start of training and then put them into little chaos practices; small sides games. The boys are first class, again some talent that would fit right into any academy system. Gabrielle was the best player for me, so we kitted him out fully, shorts, shoes and a pair of Adidas boots. I saw him later that day and asked where his boots were, he said they were at home, and already cleaned! What a legend!

We had close to 30 players in the first group so we split the group in two, taking the younger players into the shade to hand out lunch, simply a carton of milk and 3 slices of bread. After lunch we handed out kit, and were lucky enough to have extra lunch and kit to hand out to the young, non soccer players who were at the pitch.

On Thursday I met 3 little boys who were hilarious, playing, giggling, running around, they couldn’t have been any older than four. I saw one of them again, the cutest little man you could meet. On Thursday he was in tattered clothes, ripped bottoms shaggy shirt. Luckily I was able to kit him out, and he joined in lunch with the boys!! From that point on the wee man wouldn’t leave my side 🙂

Later that day we trained a high school age group of boys. The tempo of the session was okay, but not high. I have learned to consider several things for this. Immediately you consider the heat, it was roasting. You then consider that the players are a little nervous when working with a new coach, and obviously there is a language barrier, but perhaps the biggest element to consider is who knows when these boys had eaten last or drank water. As soon as we bought bottled water, the players come around asking for it. It’s a factor you do not have to consider in the western world, you often have to consider if the players ate correctly (did they eat too much?) and at the appropriate time, you certainly don’t need to worry about if they ate at all. Another thing to consider would be equipment, some bare footed, some wearing just one shoe, the toes kicked all the way through, so you can see their socks, that’s if they are lucky enough to have a pair. Through it all though, they players smile, they are attentive and really try to apply what you are showing them.

In all honesty, in the western world, what do we really have to complain about?

The final session was with a group of young ladies from the village. It was a very talented group with some top players who were again on a different level. I think the important thing to consider is that football is all they really have outside of going to school. Their town is simply in existence because of the flower farm, their homes are right next to the farm, from the pitch you can see workers picking weeds. My point is that football is their only outlet and chance to play, there are no play stations, xboxes, touch screen phones, at its simplest form it is just school and football, so it’s no wonder these players are so good, they are always playing.

My feelings leaving the town today are in complete contrast to leaving on Thursday, firstly I knew what to expect and secondly we came prepared. When we arrived some guys from the town were cutting the grass with long blades, they were trying to improve the pitch for the children, again the community working for each other. We then coached over 80 players that day, coached, fed and clothed as many children as we could. Leaving knowing that we were able to do that for the children, made this day, a fantastic day!! Roll on tomorrow 🙂

Side note: Oh on the way home we saw baboons crossing the road. It’s not every day you can say that.