Youngsters continue to play with hope of talent not going to waste

It might sound like a dream that will never come true, but for Young Talents Soccer Academy goalkeeper Ben Somba, his ambition is to one day play for Arsenal in the English Premier League.

The 10-year-old made some daring saves for Young Saints against Nakuru United in the Under-11 championships during the recent Rausha Kipaji tournament in Nakuru.

Somba believes he is in the right path to stardom and sky is the limit.

His goalkeeping artistry put smiles on the faces of the European scouts who were at Nakuru Athletic Club in search of such talented youngsters who could join academies abroad.

“I love football and as an Arsenal fan, I’d love to play for them in future. It starts from here where I’ve been taken through lots of training by my coaches,” Somba told Standard Sports.

Meanwhile, despite losing the Under-20 Girls’ title to Nakuru City Football Academy, Catherine Akinyi of Ubunifu is another young footballer with ambitions.

Akinyi who was voted the Best Player in that age category in the Rausha Kipaji tournament sees herself getting selected to play for the national team Harambee Starlets.

"We only need fairness and nothing more during selection trials as we fight to achieve our dreams," Akinyi said.

Both Somba and Akinyi are among youngsters who keep playing football with the hope that their talent will not go to waste.

Young Saints head coach Ramadhan Kamsa said despite producing some of the best players, national selectors have ignored them.

“These national coaches pick players from elsewhere but not from some of our academies,” he said.

The Rausha Kipaji tournament, which is in its seventh edition exposed many emerging youthful talents who are ready to take up spaces left by those hanging up their boots.

These youngsters are ready to make a difference in the fight for top honours but called on the national federation to do their part.

The academies showed there’s immense talent in the country and what’s only needed is how to harness it.

Nakuru City has seven academies namely Nakuru City Football Academy, Nakuru Bucks, Ubunifu, Shabab Queens, Kabarak Soccer Academy and Nakuru United.

Out of the seven, only three are registered with Football Kenya Federation (FKF).

They are Kabarak Soccer, Nakuru City and Nakuru Bucks Academies.

FKF Lower Rift Executive Member Peter ‘Kasskass’ Kamau said the federation has a way of assessing quality players and coaches.

“We only recognise qualified coaches in academies that registered with us. We also assess quality of their training offered to players,” said Kamau, a former Shabana striker.

Kamau said coaches need to have advanced training just like those who operated in the former National Youth Olympic Centres. He said the federation is out to roll out training programmes for coaches.

Golden Strikers Academy head coach Musa Leto said there is biase in selection of players into national teams in the Age Grading Systems something that Nakuru City Academy head coach Chrispinus Okemo concurred with.

“This a worrying trend and if it’s allowed to continue, we’re going nowhere. Many talents are going to waste,” said Leto who’s a CAF B trained tactician.

He says there is no structured format by the federation for the national teams in the Age Grading Championships.

“We need to have a structured format of national selection and coaches should come to watch these budding kids play,” he said.

Nakuru City Academy head coach Chrispinus Okemo is also not a happy man.

“We cannot develop football from grassroots to the national level if we cannot address all these anomalies.The federation must address cases of national coaches calling us in search of players. They should come and watch them play,” he said.

Nakuru City Academy is one of the lucky academies to have had her players get selected into the national sides.

The team had goalkeeper Jamal Kamau in the National Under-15 side that featured in the East and Central Africa Championships in Nairobi two years ago where Kenya finished runners up.

All these selections happen through recommendations by coaches.

However, FKF Football Development Director Francis Kimanzi said they always send scouts to youth tournaments.

“We always send out scouts to all these events. We are well aware of who is who in all football forums. We know who’s who and there should be no cause for alarm,” he said.

Kimanzi said they work on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) resulting in regulation of football management to the grassroots that came up with private and public football championships.

The former Harambee Stars coach admitted all coaches of these academies are qualified, which gives FKF easy work in the PPP partnership.