Kisasa FC begins on a neat football pitch in the middle of the rainy season. The rains are off and on, the sun hides behind heavy clouds, but none of it dims the enthusiasm.
Showers of blessings, maybe. Before long, the sun comes out and trials begin: eager coaches, eager U16 boys scouted from the Runda-situated Rosslyn Academy and the developing areas of Gachie and Ruaka. Trials will continue for the next few weeks, with boys from Brookhouse, Potterhouse, and Githogoro joining, until a squad of 23 has been formed. The boys show the quality, determination, and drive that can compete in the Diamond Youth League.
Oluniyi Carew, the founder and vision-bearer of Kisasa FC, arrives ready every day to see the dream he has had and worked on for the past few years begin to take shape. At his back are partnerships across schools, coaches, and individuals carrying, truly, a God-imparted vision: to galvanise a community around football, using athletics as a vessel to realise the sport at its best.
The first thing to do is build the beating heart that will be the driver of any progress to come. Football.
By virtue of its very name, Kisasa FC is a football club. But from this nexus, the idea is to build a structure around the sport and players, seeing how the community can come together to deliver the vision: a place for mentorship of young men in Christian values and athletics, where families can watch football games and create unforgettable experiences in safe, accessible environments.
Sustainability can look like many things, and this is built into the idea. Structures with members and income streams are planned for the long term, with no illusions of growth, but without any shortness of ambition.
More than the scoreline
When the coaches are ambitious, the players are determined, and the equipment is available, the routine seems simple enough. The aim is not complicated: outscore the other team. While that’s fundamental to sport, the way it’s achieved is where community forms. In football, roles extend beyond the eleven on the pitch: coaching staff, a medical team, administration off the pitch, and partners supporting the whole operation.
Football calls for the individual to see themselves in relation to the whole. Determination, tenacity, ambition, drive, stamina. The concept of training oneself to continually extend one’s limits, and, among the most important, to become an effective communicator. Communication is taught to be clear, loud, and the individual, confident.
As with all athletics, football is a great leveller. One shares teammates’ language in little phrases, language serving as a doorway to culture. One begins to see weaknesses as well as strengths, and almost instinctively learns how to support a teammate where they’re short. In training, players switch roles and test versatility. That is one reason trials exist in the first place: building adaptability.
Out of this managing and mentorship, responsibility is nurtured. In the culture of Kisasa FC, players are taught to take ownership of their own shoes, their kits, how they carry themselves. Motivating their players to higher, stronger, more resilient mentalities becomes a coach’s foremost tool. How eagerly one calls for the ball often reflects how well they will perform when it’s at their feet.
A common sight at the end of trial days: the players make a circle, linking arms over shoulders to receive final words from the coaches. Coach Brice Bogna might say something. Coach Mikael Igendia adds. A player is invited to pray over the session and the rest of the evening. Rest will be needed.
Saturday: scrimmage vs Ambassadors
Week 1’s trials end with a scrimmage against Ambassadors, a football collective with pursuits adjacent to Kisasa’s. The game is on Saturday at 3:00 PM, hosted at Rosslyn Academy’s varsity pitch. It’s an overwhelming success: visible progress for everyone behind the dream, and a first win for the boys. Kisasa FC bring home a 3-2 victory, showing heart after going 2-1 down.
It’s Morris, “Morro”, who scores a hat-trick. The brilliantly forming striker ultimately brings back the win, built, of course, on an encouraging whole-team performance.
Before kickoff, Coach Brice gathers the team. “Listen, everybody listen,” he starts, going on to deliver instructions on what to do in and out of position. He finishes with notes to share the ball and to enjoy having possession. “Enjoy, communicate. It doesn’t matter who you are, from minute one, enjoy your football, smile.” Calvin prays.
Kisasa attack from left to right wearing orange bibs; Ambassadors wear yellow. Coach Dan referees the first half. Ten minutes in. Ambassadors keep pressing. After the keeper makes a brave save, we get one. 1-0. The boys on the bench clap. Familiarity and pride growing on Kisasa FC’s first goal ever in a friendly.
The game goes on. Taaj gets a run down the right flank, plays a quick one-two, turns and twists, takes a shot that deflects for a corner. The corner harmlessly bends out. By now the Ambassadors have levelled and taken the lead. We’re trailing 2-1.
Coach Brice is making notes to deliver later: positional discipline, reaction time. The boys keep pushing. Their keeper makes a daring save after a run on goal. Morris gets one in. 2-2. Peter is shining in midfield. Coach Brice yelling from the sideline gives him a note: manage the gap between defending and pressing. Soon after, Peter holds up the ball, sees Morris, and sets him off in a run that ends with Morris slotting one past the keeper, getting the goalkeeper to dive in the wrong direction. Morris has his hat-trick. In the first scrimmage of Kisasa FC’s history, future players have a hat-trick to beat.
“Can we keep possession? Can someone play simple for us?”
At half time, Coach Brice notes the boys are doing well, that there is still room to gel. The boys are enjoying it, getting to know each other. It will take time.
After the half, most of the team switches. Calvin stays on. Samuel tackles, badly timed, badly aimed, studs up. He gets a yellow card. Tuji attends to numbers 40, 00, and 11 off the pitch. We win a free kick. The boys’ shadows reflect darker in the grass. A small group of family and friends watches off to the left.
Bromwell warms up on the side. He’ll give Calvin a break. Beckett has a great break, hops through a gap between two defenders, but the shot is wide. Coach Tuji talks to number 16 off the pitch, an injury. Quick substitution. Coach Brice is shouting from the touchline, “Simple, calm! Can we keep possession?”
It’s an encouraging first competitive match with a slightly disappointing late spell, the team breaking down a touch in the second half, likely due to fatigue as they build their stamina. Still, you can tell the coaches are excited at what they’ve seen today. “Alright guys, go shake hands,” Coach Brice says ahead of post-match notes and announcements.
To end, in a scene that will become characteristic of Kisasa FC in the coming matches, the boys go round and shake hands with each other, and with their opponents.
Kisasa FC is off to a bright start. The coaches, players, and staff are ambitiously committed to this journey for success in the Diamond Youth League.