Volleyball titan Bitok returns with goodies, opens up on long-term goals

Decorated volleyball coach Paul Bitok believes he has made great strides in his journey of reviving volleyball in Kenya after his proposal was adopted by the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Nairobi two weeks ago.

Bitok, barely a month after declining to extent his stay in Rwanda where he had an illustrious 10-year coaching career, has proposed among other things a change of the Kenya Volleyball Federation league format to be played on home and away basis with all the matches being played indoor.

Following the adoption of the document formulated by Bitok, the 2020/2021 season will serve off in October and conclude in May the following year, with the period between May and June specifically left for national team assignments and beach volleyball.

Also in the proposal which Citizen Digital has seen,, the league for both men and women will be played by 12 teams and in four phases namely classificatory, quarterfinal, semifinal and final. The teams will form a single group and be listed according to their technical level in the previous season.

Speaking on the sidelines of the just concluded Term Two national school games held in Kisumu, the former Kenyan international said changing the format will make the league more competitive adding that he has already reached an agreement with a potential sponsor who is ready to pump money into the game after the adoption of his proposal.

“I am very happy because we cannot be doing things the same way as we used to do when I was still a player. We need to make our league more attractive and competitive.

Since volleyball is an indoor sport we need to invest on gyms because our new found opponents Cameroon have invested heavily hence their recent success,” he underscored.

2021 elections

The celebrated coach said he is mulling a leap into management ahead of the 2021 KVF elections when the current President Waithaka Kioni’s term ends.

In a wide ranging interview with Citizen Digital, Bitok said he will throw his hat in the ring after helping the current technical bench fix ‘everything’ in volleyball.

“If I succeed Kioni who has done a good job then no problem but before then there is a lot to be done because we must put things in order and now I am free and ready to help the current technical bench,” he said.

Bitok was appointed in 2010 as head coach by the Rwanda Volleyball Federation of the men’s senior team, but also handled other national teams at different levels in different regional and international competitions, and before he left he had guided both the men and women’s teams in this year’s World Championships held in Germany.