NAIROBI, Kenya, September 11 – A team of 37 players and officials will depart on Saturday for Lagos, Nigeria to represent the country in the second edition of Africa Under-17 Airtel Rising Stars championship slotted for September 13 to 23.
The team comprises of 13 girls and 16 boys from Olympics Girls’ Secondary and Upper Hill High schools respectively who were crowned champions in the recently concluded the Kenya Secondary School Sports Associations term two national games in Embu.
Speaking while flagging off the team at Upper Hill on Wednesday, former Manchester United forward Dwight Yorke, said that the boys and girls need to improve their techniques so as to perform well in the championship.
“It’s a pretty good experience, unfortunately I haven’t got not enough time to really show a lot more that they can improve on, you can see that they are good athletes, I have seen the boys and girls I was just looking on their techniques to see if there is something I can probably improve, have seen five minutes of their play and I have realized they have good attitude but they need to upgrade their techniques,” said Yorke.
Upper Hill principal cum Coach Peter Oraro said it is a great opportunity to expose talent in and outside the country and they are only looking for podium finish.
“I think this is a big opportunity for the players to showcase their talent outside the county since it will give them more exposure” said Oraro.
Both sides, Olympic girl’s and Upper Hill represented the country in the East African Secondary Games that were held in in Lira Uganda. Ghana and Niger are the defending champions in the boys and girls category.