Musingu High crowned 2023 KSSSA Champions
Teenage sensation Isaac Wanjawa scored the all-important goal for Musingu High to beat multiple Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) boys hockey champions St Antony for the 2023 title.
This is a first for the school that has been dominant in other disciplines but has always come short in hockey.
Coach Bramwel Lijoodi, however, keen to break the jinx of falling in the semis led his charges in one of the toughest campaigns for a final slot and subsequently into beating perennial winners St Antony for the title.
"It has been a long journey, started when we lost the regional final in the 2022 edition of the games to Kamusinga. We had a good squad then but a few things did not work.
We begun our preparations by motivating the boys to believe this was their year to lift the elusive title and that has been the message ever since, even when we had doubters, and for good reason, as we had a better squad last year.
Coming all this way to win the title and agai St some of the toughest teams in the championship is a great achievement. We have seen others do it for the school in other disciplines and we just had to push for our name to be on that list and we couldn't be happier," coach Lijoodi offered.
En route to the final, Musingu had played for two wins and a draw in the preliminaries and a 2-0 win against Meru School in the semis..
Before their Saturday exploits, the best the school had placed at the national level in the recent past was a third-place finish in the 2018 edition held in Embu as they went on to win silver at the East Africa Games.
As they turn their focus on the East African competition set for Rwanda, coach Lijoodi says the team will need to work on their penalty corner conversions.
"If we cannot score the field goals, we have to take full advantage of the penalty corners and ensure they count in every game. Almost other departments are working well," he explained.
Javinb joined the national league as the Western Jaguar development team, the tactician believes this move will go a long way in helping his boys get better as they play against more experienced teams.