Govt set to roll out anti-doping education in schools, says agency boss

The Government is set to roll out out anti-doping education programmes in schools and sports academies in a spirited effort to eliminate the pervasive vice killing careers of local athletes.

Speaking during a talent search in Trans Nzoia County, the Anti-Doping Board Chairman, Wesley Korir has said that his agency together with other stakeholders are working round the clock to see to it that they sensitize upcoming athletes on the vice in a bid save their careers in athletics.

He said the government had introduced the anti-doping education programme amongst teen athletes in a bid to weed out the menace that is threatening to destroy the athletic record Kenya holds globally.

“Doping is a menace, a big problem and a disaster and we must put all our efforts together to teach these youngsters on the disadvantages of using banned substances and how they will ruin their livelihoods eventually”

He said they plan to teach budding athletes as young as they are on doping, money literacy and education was aimed at producing track professionals with discipline and ready to win trophies without cheating.

He said his body had entered into partnership with the Ministries of Education and Sports as well as the KCB Foundation in a bid to roll out anti-doping programmes at schools and sports academies as a strategy to reach out to the youth at the early stages of their and change their attitudes to doping.

On its part, the Kenya Academy of Sports has said that they are in the progress of partnering with sports academies across the country to spur sports and in Trans Nzoia it was partnering with Transcend Academy in that initiative.

It revealed that 30 athletes will join Transcend for scholarship for the next four years under the partnership.

“We are mandated to start and manage sports academies across the country and in Trans Nzoia we will help transcend to get and train coaches for the children plus sponsoring the athletes through their school life.” noted Doreen Odhiambo, the CEO of Kenya academy of sports.

Stephen Matee of KCB Foundation who was also at the function noted  said the bank was scouting for 50 athletes who would join various sports academies under the niche of gifted and talented who would be sponsored under the programme.

His sentiments were echoed by KCB Kitale Branch Manager, Hillary Sitienei who said they had changed tact in the way they did their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes and now they had included sports as one of the key pillars.

“In the past we concentrated on education and other community projects like tree planting but now we will also include sporting activities in a bid to uplift talent among the hundreds of youth  as you have seen here 700 of them turned up for the race to get a slot in the available 50 slots.”

Local leaders led by Sitatunga MCA Simon Murei decried the lack of adequate sporting facilities in the region, a matter he said, affected efforts to grow talent among the youth.

“There was a high altitude training camp being constructed on the slopes of Mt Elgon but was never completed making athletes move to other counties to train. Politicians are only sponsoring football activities thus killing other sporting activities in the region.”

By Osborne Benn