In order to promote rugby bin the country, Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) has partnered with the Damu Pevu Society to introduce the sport in primary schools.
According to the KRU chairman Oduor Gangla, the federation will be training teachers and coaches in Kisumu, Embu and Nairobi.
The roll out, set to kick off this weekend, will be conducted by World Rugby Trainers, Michael Otieno and George Ndemi in collaboration with KRU Development Coordinator and World Rugby Educator Ronald Okoth.
On Thursday, the training will start in Kisumu, with Otieno and Okoth in action where officials from Bomet, Kisii, Kisumu, Kakamega, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia and Uasin Gishu counties will converge.
The second training will take place in Embu on 5th and 6th May and will be conducted by Ndemi and Okoth with teachers from Murang’a, Embu, Nyeri, Meru, Makueni, Mombasa and Taita Taveta while the 3rd training course will be held on 12th May in Nairobi targeting teachers from Nairobi, Kajiado and Nakuru.
The goal will be to ensure that primary school teachers are trained on the basics of the game and introduce the game at the school level where Kenya Rugby and Damu Pevu will monitor the progress every month. World Rugby will provide trainers to the teachers.
“Our players are disadvantaged. They start playing the game at between 13 and 16 years while the big rugby nations start from as early as five. We feel this introduction will go along way in addressing some of those challenges,” said Gangla
Okoth said, “as an implementer of this initiative I am very happy because it is a milestone for the Development office. We are going to start with Western Kenya on 29th and 30th April where an estimated total of 16 coaches from seven counties will be attending. We’re looking forward to having a long term development pathway for our players countrywide,”
Damu Pevu Chairman Tom Odenyo added that this initiative has been planned for several years by the Damu Pevu team. It is intended to build upon the current Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association that has cemented its name in the Kenyan Sports circles. We’re very happy to have gotten the ball rolling on this initiative and we’re happy for this partnership with KRU. We appreciate the hard work put into this by both parties led by Damu Pevu’s Michael “Tank” Otieno and Okoth.