By Prudence Minayo
When he was young, Sammy Njoroge had a dream of becoming a professional footballer. Growing up in Githurai, Njoroge attended a football academy and was one of the stars who impressed and even got sponsorships to fly out to Thailand, Netherlands and Norway in order to interact with other budding footballers in Europe.
Njoroge’s future was beaming bright and he was destined to don the national colours. However, in 2018 while playing in the dusty Koth Biro grounds, he suffered a nasty knee injury that brought his career into a grinding halt.
He required specialised treatment with the total cost of being a whooping Sh500,000 to treat the injury. Njoroge didn’t have this amount and neither could his parents afford to raise the amount.
“I was stressed and suffering a lot staying in the house and thinking how life had become unbearable,” he said in a recent interview.
Despite the challenges, he has been able to build a career off content creation. In a recent interview on K24, he said that he makes between Sh80,000 to Sh100,000 from content.
Football Academy
Since the injury left him unable to pursue professional football, he became a physical trainer. Then, he decided to pursue his passion by training young children how to play football. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit and the training had to stop since the children were not out and about.
Content creation
He got challenged to start creating content. He drew a lot of inspiration from watching the likes of David Moya and Khaby and wanted to do something different.
One day as he was walking with no plans or fare, he decided to challenge a stranger on the streets. She met a woman with a baby strapped on her back around Safari Park footbridge. Njoroge threw the ball at her and the woman kicked it.
“She didn’t score but her smile was infectious,” recalls the content creator.
The tiktoker posted the video online and it went viral. When he checked his phone the following day, he was shocked by the high engagement the video had received. Apparently, the woman had come from hospital where she had taken her baby to be attended to. It was also her birthday and when she found herself trending, she linked up with Njoroge and told him how he had brightened what seemed like a gloomy day.
Tiktok Challenge
This was how he started walking around the city with his miniature goal post and ball. He challenges various people to try and score and captures their authentic reaction. In one video, the challenge
attracts a group of people who are all smiling as they watch for the selected person to score. In another, he seems to challenge officers from the General Service Unit.
Njoroge’s official Tiktok account (@Sammy Saich) currently has at least 322k followers and over 2.1 million likes. In November 2022, the content creator attended the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai which presented the opportunity to meet some exceptional football stars, such as, Rooney, Ibrahimovic and Mohamed Salah. Njoroge also met his idol and renowned Tiktok global sensation, Khaby Lame. His desire to set up a football academy is still alive.
