Schools have been urged to establish and embrace kids’ athletics programmes to identify and nurture sporting talent among learners from a tender age.
The call was made during the Second Edition of the Kids Athletics competition held at the Tegla Lorupe Education and Peace Centre in West Pokot County, bringing together learners from various schools to showcase their athletic abilities.
The event, held under the theme “Little Feet, Big Dreams,” provided an opportunity for young athletes to compete while allowing teachers and coaches to identify learners with potential in different sporting disciplines.
Host and global athletics icon, Ambassador Tegla Lorupe, said education and sports were inseparable and called on schools to invest in both if the country was to develop well-rounded future leaders and champions.
“Education and sports go hand in hand. We must identify and nurture talent when children are still young,” Lorupe said.
She said sporting activities offered an opportunity to discover children with abilities that might otherwise remain unnoticed in the classroom.
“Here we can find champions of different categories like champions for peace and champions for better leaders,” she said.
Lorupe commended the Ministry of Education at both the National and County levels for supporting the initiative and urged participating schools to replicate the programme in their respective institutions.
She also challenged neighbouring schools and other learning institutions across the country to emulate the model, saying early exposure to sport could help children discover their abilities and develop confidence.
The event comes at a time when education stakeholders are placing greater emphasis on identifying individual learner abilities under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) curriculum.
The Curriculum Support Officer for Siyoi Zone, Maruti Soita, said learners did not possess similar abilities and that schools should create opportunities for children to demonstrate their strengths beyond academic work.
“Some children are not able to grasp some classwork at the same pace as others, but they are able differently in different talents like athletics or other sporting activities,” Soita said.
He said Kids Athletics could help teachers identify such abilities at an early stage and enable talented learners to receive the necessary support.
“Those who are good in athletics can get support at an early stage,” he said.
Soita urged other school heads to establish similar programmes in their institutions to ensure that learners with sporting abilities were not overlooked.
The County Director of Education, West Pokot, Yophes Magara, commended the Tegla Lorupe Education and Peace Centre for sustaining the initiative to its second edition.
In a speech delivered on his behalf by Prof. Kipsang Chemagut, Projects Manager at the Ministry of Education in West Pokot, Magara said the growth of the event demonstrated the potential of the model to contribute to talent development.
He described the institution as a Centre where education and sport were being used to promote peace.
“We are not just in a school. We are in a Centre for Education and Peace,” Magara said.
He said the centre had demonstrated that sporting activities could be used to transform communities and promote peaceful coexistence.
“This is where Mama Tegla Lorupe has taught the world that we can replace the gun with the book and conflict with athletics,” he said.
Magara said the Ministry of Education held the centre in high regard because it integrated education, talent development, and peace-building, which he noted was in line with the spirit of CBE.
Prof. Chemagut said sports had been given greater prominence under the new curriculum because learners possess different talents and abilities.
He explained that CBE provides pathways including STEM, social sciences, and arts and sports, allowing learners to pursue areas where they demonstrate greater potential.
He said Kids Athletics, introduced by Athletics Kenya, had been embraced by the Ministry of Education and incorporated into the school calendar.
Chemagut pledged the Ministry’s continued support for the initiative and urged Ambassador Lorupe to sustain the programme and make it a model for other schools in West Pokot and across the country.
He challenged young athletes to balance sporting talent with education, saying discipline would be critical to their success.
“Talent will give you a name, but education will sustain that name,” he said.
He also urged the learners to use their talents to promote peace in their schools, homes, and communities.
The Tegla Lorupe Education and Peace Centre is already recording results from its investment in sporting talent.
The school runs sporting programmes throughout the academic calendar and currently supports 36 athlete students, who do not pay school fees and receive full support from the school administration.
The institution also has teachers trained by Athletics Kenya through World Athletics to coach and guide the young athletes.
Last year, two students from the school represented Kenya at the East Africa Games held in Kakamega, while two others represented the country this year at the regional competition in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Among those who represented Kenya are 16-year-old Solomon Kibet, a needy learner rescued from Baragoi who lives at the school full-time, and 17-year-old Rehema Chepkor.
The school hopes to produce at least five athletes who will represent Kenya in subsequent regional and international competitions.
One of its promising athletes is Grade Nine learner Lorna Cherono, a long-distance runner who competes in races of up to six kilometres in the Under-20 category.
Cherono has represented Kenya at the East African Games three times between 2024 and 2026. She has also participated in the ANOCA Games in Angola and represented the Kenyan team at the Under-20 level in Oregon.
As she prepares to proceed to Grade 10 next year, the school plans to identify a suitable institution where she can continue with her education while developing her athletics career.
Chief Officer for Youth Affairs, Social Services, Sports, Culture, and Gender Benjamin Kilelan said inadequate sporting infrastructure had been a major challenge in nurturing talent in the county.
He, however, said the county government was establishing training camps in various areas, including Kaptabuk, Lomukee, Siyoi, and Koporoch, which have produced athletes who have gone on to compete at national and international levels.
The county is also implementing youth sporting programmes, including the Kenya Youth Inter-County Sports Association (KYISA), to create more opportunities for young people.
Kilelan said early identification, followed by structured training and support, was critical in turning raw talent into successful athletes.
“We need to scout and identify talent from a very tender age, transit it through the youth stage, and nurture it through the training camps up to the success stages,” he said.
He added that athletics could also contribute to peace and tourism in the county.
The second edition of Kids Athletics has therefore provided a practical demonstration of how schools can become important talent-identification centres.
As young athletes took to the track, the message from education and sports stakeholders was that Kenya’s future champions could already be in its classrooms and school fields.
What is needed, they said, is for schools to identify them early, provide opportunities to develop their abilities, and ensure that talent grows alongside education.
In declaring the competition officially open, Magara summed up the spirit of the initiative with a simple appeal:
“Let the children play. Let peace win. Let talent grow.”
By Parklea Ivor
