NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 – Ahead of the 2026 Youth Olympics set to be hosted in Dakar, Senegal, Kenya is ticking the boxes especially on the development of rugby thanks to the Kenya Academy of Sports elite camp.
The girls game is picking up well in the country and according to Sarah Otieno one of the trainers of the 36 ladies that have pitched camp at Lavington Secondary School in Nairobi, the camp will be a feeder system to clubs and national teams.
“This is a good initiative by Kenya Academy of Sports targeting 2026 Youth Olympics. This is the right path to take women’s rugby to the next level,” Sarah said.
She is content with how the young girls are grasping the trainings noting the only challenge is on tackling which she believes by the end of the one-week camp the players will be good at it.
“We are now polishing the skills having been with the players for the last two weeks. The emphasis was to ensure they were able to catch and pass the ball and they are good at it now. We are now working on tackling because in a game of 7s or 15s the amount of time the player will be down cannot compared to when one will be on her feet, so we are trying our best to make sure that everyone is able to tackle,” she added.
Sarah, however, noted that there was a gap interms of transition of players from Secondary School to clubs compared to universities which is easier.
“Come April and August during school holidays, we will do the same, we have already created the systems that will now make the work easier. We are training players to be all rounded not just come from home to play rugby but come from work to play rugby, so we will change the whole dimension of how people perceive rugby especially for the girls.”
