Balancing between talent in football and education was the main reason for former Harambee Stars player James Situma established the Inspire Football tournament that was played today at the Bungoma High School Grounds in Bungoma County.
Situma said that the country needs to produce a holistic person who is smart both in education and talents to succeed in life and free from any use of drugs.
Speaking at the venue after the conclusion of a one day tournament that attracted 12 teams, Situma said that he was happy for the very successful activity to inspire the youth as a way of giving back to the community because many youths are involved in sports.
“I can’t inspire or give an individual but we bring many people together, play football and do mentorship talks and guide them to reach at the top. I will be happy to see players from such events producing players playing at the top better than me by showing them the way,” Situma.
He added that they want to give them information that once the youth takes a certain path, they will succeed. At the same time, they want to show them that they can play football and be educated at the same time.
“We want to show them on how you can balance sports and education. This was a pilot project, I really need to emphasize on such talents by empowering youths. Today we only had men, going forward, we shall include women teams which will be much bigger and be played in two to three days. Football can make you dine with kings of this word,” he said.
On collaborating with county governments in supporting the program, he said “We shall make deliberate action, share the idea and the concept with the relevant authorities to support them especially those with open minded people. We also want talk about mental issues among sportsmen and wome,” he said.
During the tournament, Bungoma Stars were victorious after edging out Barcelona FC 3-0. Valentino Lusuli, Lewis wanami and Robert Asira were on target for the champions.
In the semifinals, Barcelona were 2-1 winners against Umri Fc where Situma was part of the team while the champions beat Nyangi Warriors with similar scores.
Bungoma Stars head coach Sylvester Lichungu said that there is need to help young people grow in sports and education to eradicate drug use.
“This is an important day for us especially on drugs that has affected my players. As coaches, we go through a lot challenges because a player can be on drugs and we end up losing him. At the same time, there are those who believe that without drugs they cannot play which will not offer any results,” said Lichungu.
He also reiterated that some players are not aware of some drugs that may kill their careers. Also some coaches, he says drug their players for points.
“As coaches, we have been given targets and a dependable player may miss due to injury so they use drugs to the player to get results. Don’t risk player’s life just to get results without looking at the effects,” he warned.