Strathmore University Hockey players that include 2 men from the Gladiators team – Festus Onyango and Francis Kariuki, and 4 ladies from the Scorpions team – Jane Muragu, Elizabeth Ngombo, Yvonne Karanja, and Gilly Okumu, will join the Kenya national teams for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament slated for 22^nd – 29^th October, 2017. The tournament doubles up as a world cup qualifying competition, and will be held in Ismailia, Egypt.

The Strathmore hockey team Coach Meshack Senge, is set to lead as head coach for the men’s national team, while Gilly will lead the women’s team as the captain.

The teams will participate in their first match on 22^nd October, competing against Ghana for the men and South Africa for the women’s team.

“It is always an honour to represent your country and put on the national team jersey. This is a good feeling for us as Strathmore. We hope to carry the Strathmore ethos and be ambassadors of the university in the national set up,” Coach Senge stated.

For the Scorpions team player Jane, this will be the first time to represent the country in the national teams. This is a great achievement considering the selection process that involved assessing 38 players for a start, down to 25 players, and finally ending with 18 players for each team. During a match 11 members play for while 7 sit on the bench as subs.

“Everybody has a stake to put Kenya on the map with the kind of teams set up. For us as a team, we believe sports will be one of the units that can bring Kenya back together, a way that gives Kenyans a reason to smile and be proud again,” coach Senge continued to explain.

The Africa Cup contest takes place after every two years, with Strathmore University providing representatives since the year 2009. Although the Strathmore teams change with each New Year as students complete their academics and new students join the university, it is a great honour to have Strathmore players picked for each period.

The Strathmore representatives will be in the middle of handling end of semester examinations as they participate in this competition. However, coach Senge is confident that the students will still perform excellently in both fronts. “Strathmore has very disciplined students, who learn the balance of sports and studying at the very start. The students will be in between exams during the tourney period, but we have arranged for special exams for them. The students still perform well, I am confident of that. 3 years ago four students graduated with first class honours, who were national team players as well as Strathmore teams’ players. This is an indication of the hardwork put in by each student”

 

We wish the Kenyan teams’ success in the forthcoming tournament as we cheer on our Strathmore team.