It is the dream of many young people in Elgeyo Marakwet, referred to as the Home of Champions, to follow in the footsteps of the many world champions that the county has produced over the years.
The champions inspire the youth to live the athletic dream of not only conquering the world but also running away from poverty to the flashy lifestyle.
However, while many of the youngsters have the potential to achieve this dream and may even become better, their dream is being killed by coaches and managers who start exploiting them while still young.
According to the secretary of the County Secondary School Sports Association, Christopher Sitienei, whenever there is a secondary school sports competition, among the many who turn up to cheer the young athletes are coaches whose main target is to identify talents.
“Being coaches, they are well placed to identify young athletes who have the potential to be world champions,” he said.
Once identified, Sitienei said, the coaches approach the young athlete without involving their teachers and lure them by promising to train them to become great athletes. The coaches, he added, go as far as their homes, where they rope in the parents to make the deal appear genuine.
“Being young and vulnerable, the minors agree to signing contracts which they don’t even understand in the hope of becoming rich,” Sitienei, who is also a coach and a teacher at St. Peter’s Iten secondary school, said.
The secretary cited the case of a boy who was in form two who was poached by a coach and taken to Japan to participate in road races, all these without the school’s knowledge.
He said that after being lured into signing the contracts, their teachers, who had been coaching them all along, suddenly became enemies with the minors, even refusing to talk to them.
“The coaches exploit their innocence and vulnerability and poison their minds against their teachers, as they don’t want them to be around to guide them,” Mr Sitienei said.
He added that for those who come back to school they become rude and less interested in education after being introduced to money when they are still young, which in turn affects their education.
Others he said are conned and do not receive any money. “It’s quite sad to see them come back to school and they are unable to clear their school fees because the money is taken by the coach or manager because they done even know what they signed.
He was speaking during a meeting convened by the Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG) and sponsored by UNFPA aimed at equipping coaches, athletes’ managers and duty bearers with tools and knowledge to detect, prevent and respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in sports.
The teacher also called on training camps which house students during school holidays not to mix young girls with senior athletes, saying most of them are lured by the senior athletes who sexually abuse them, with some being left pregnant.
Mr. Sitienei called on the government to put in place measures which ensure a smooth transition from secondary school to junior athletes and eventually senior athletes, which will ensure that apart from running, they also acquire education which enables them to manage their lives.
He said others seek sponsorship in the hope that once they get proper training, they can move abroad where they will study as they run. He, however, said only a few make it, with many others leaving the camps after two or more years with nothing.
The secretary also expressed concern over foreigners who shoot documentaries of the minors and send them abroad, saying they do not even know what happens to the documentaries and what the benefits are, if any.
Prof. Byron Kipchumba a coach and camp manager, called for the strengthening and equipping of teachers with the necessary skills to enable them to coach and train young learners under the CBC, with the Ministry of Education ensuring that children remain in schools.
“It is sad to hear that our children are taken abroad to run races they are not supposed to under dubious contracts because if they get hurt, they are abandoned, as the contracts signed mostly don’t protect them,“he said.
Prof. Kipchumba said education should be prioritised alongside talents, saying apart from helping the athletes manage their income, it also comes in handy in case the athlete is unable to run; he will have an alternative source of income.
The County Sports Director Patrick Wabende said minors are not allowed to participate in road races and marathons as they are still young and the races end up burning them out before they can realise their dream.
The director regretted that such actions end up denying the country future athletes while also destroying the lives of the minors, saying such should be prosecuted.
He added that the county will soon be implementing the sports act, which will ensure that only coaches with the necessary certificates are allowed to operate, saying this will enable the government to weed out coaches and managers exploiting athletes.
Paul Masese from CEDGG called on training camps to incorporate the Standard Operating Procedures (Sop) for the detection, prevention and response to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in their operations. This, he said, will be an assurance to athletes of their safety, dignity and justice.
By Alice Wanjiru
