Transition: KPA’s Ocholla takes the leap from court to technical bench

After 13 impressive years at Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) men basketball team, former captain Samuel Ocholla has transitioned to coaching becoming the team’s assistant head coach.

Ocholla says he decided to retire and join the technical bench to give way to young and upcoming players.

Ocholla will however be at home in his new found role as he has played it before as player- coach, and the Dockers have elected to fully tap into his rich experienced gathered playing at the top level over the last decade.

In an inclusive interview with Citizen Digital, he said:  “By continuing to play and age catching up I was denying young ones an opportunity because I will definitely still feature in the first team.

“I didn’t want to leave basketball for good, I wanted to use the experience I have to help my team and see it grow bigger and bigger.”

Ocholla joined KPA in 2006 after turning out for Kenya Polytechnic from 2003 to 2006.

Born in Kajiado County on 24th April 1984, the 35-year-old attended Kajiado Township Primary School from 1991-1998 before joining Kajiado Central Secondary School from 1999- 2002.

It was at high school that his interest in the game soared joining Kenya Polytechnic in 2003 to 2006 for college studies.

But as any other player, his dream while growing up was to play professional basketball overseas. Locally, he had strong admiration for KPA, KCB Lions, Ulinzi Warriors and Co-operative Bank.

Though he missed out on the dream of plying his trade abroad, locally he prowled the court for the giants that are KPA, attaining one of his childhood dreams.

“As a player I believed I won almost everything apart from the Africa Cup. I have won all the way from  Division Two, Division One, Premier League (four times) and Zone Five (bagged bronze, silver and gold,” Ocholla said, noting that the end game should see him become a fully fledged coach.