AK to set up youth training camps across counties

Athletics Kenya has outlined intentions to work closely with County Governments in order to enhance athletics development from the regional level as well as broaden their reach in terms of tapping talent.

AK President Lt. General (Rtd.) Jackson Tuwei said the national athletics governing body is in talks with the Council of Governors with the proposal to set up training camps in each county top of the agenda list.

“We have discussed twice with the chairman of Sports Committee in the Council of Governors under Prof. Paul Chepkwony where we want every county to have a training camp, and afterwards we want to have a program where we can engage ministers of sports in every County,” Tuwei said.

He also revealed that their idea is propelled by their earlier partnership with the Ministry of Education which has so far been a success.

“We cannot succeed unless we engage all the partners, we have already engaged the ministry of Education and it is working very well and now we want to extend that to the Counties,” the AK boss added.

In June last year, AK and the Ministry of Education  developed an ambitious Kid’s Athletics Program for children aged between 7 and 14 years meant to nurture and develop talent from the early ages.

Tuwei, who was also the chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the recently councluded World under 18 championships held in Nairobi, was quick to point out the need to invest in technical part of the sport in order to discover more talents in field events and short races where Kenya has long performed dismally.

“What we have to do is to extend the technical knowledge so that we can have more (athletes) because I am very sure that there are more talents out there.

“Secondly we have to invest in equipment since we have to provide the right equipment for the right category,” continued Tuwei.

-Report by Gilbert Kiprotich.