For many years, the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) championship has served to expose players in various sports to better opportunities.
It has been a tournament that has led to the tapping of talents for various Kenyan teams.
This has been the case for rugby whereby top guns like St. Mary’s Yala and Kakamega School have had its alumni get slots in the national team.
In this article, we reveal schools that have produced members of the Kenya 7s team.
St. Mary’s Yala
The Siaya County school is among the oldest institutions in Kenya and excels both in academics and co-curricular activities. It is a rugby powerhouse where Kenya 7s stars Geoffrey Okwach and Levy Amunga studied.
Okwach was initially interested in basketball before his fast legs earned him a soft landing into rugby.
On the other hand, Levy Amunga learnt the game of rugby while in St. Mary’s Yala as he was initially a football player while in primary school.
Both Amunga and Okwach play for KCB Rugby Club.
Laiser Hill
Johnstone Olindi and Daniel Taabu studied at the Kajiado County school.
Kakamega High School
Kakamega High School is an undisputed powerhouse in sports, music and drama festivals.
Kenya Sevens key players Alvin ‘Buffa’ Otieno and Bush Mwale both featured for Kakamega’s Barbarians.
Initially Otieno was a student at Mukumu Boys before he transferred to Kakamega.
After high school, his father was against him playing the oval ball, a matter that saw him stay away from home for 2 years as he concentrated on rugby.
But unlike the Biblical prodigal son who returned home empty handed, Otieno came back after the historical 2016 Singapore series triumph.
St. Josephs Boys High School Kitale
The Kitale-based school is where Kevin Wekesa and Ronnie Omondi were induced to this game of men.
Nelson Oyoo, the Shujaas captain studied at Njoro High School and has spent a better part of his life in the lakeside city of Nakuru.
Ambira High School
Currently, Tanga plays for Kabras RFC.
Strathmore High School
Kenya 7s Relegation
The unprecedented relegation of the Kenya 7s team from the World 7s Series is a matter that most rugby fanatics are yet to come into terms with.
The sight of defeated players lying on the pitch after losing to Canada proved that indeed Shujaas had fallen into a pitiful hole.
And now no one knows when or if they will return back. After a 20 year stint at the World 7s Series, Kenya now goes back to the drawing board and they must quickly regain their footing.
Sometimes relegation is like a curse; it brings forth a myriad of challenges and kills that fighting spirit.
Shujaas will now have to go through the African Qualifiers the proceed to the World Challenger in order to be promoted back for the 2024/25 series.
