25/09/2026
π₯² respect em coaches
THE COACH WHO GAVE EVERYTHING
Coach Otieno started in Kayole with nothing but a whistle and 12 balls that were already torn.
He was a volunteer.
For 8 years, he woke up at 5am every Saturday. He trained other people's children. His own son would cry at the door saying, "Baba, stay today," but he would leave because 30 other boys were waiting for him on a dusty field.
He used his salary as a mjengo fundi to buy uniforms. He used his wife's chama money to hire a bus for away games in Kajiado. He missed his sister's wedding because his team had a semi-final.
He built stars. Three of his boys went to National Super League. One went to Gor Mahia. They all called him "Coach" when they were young. When they became big, they stopped picking his calls.
Then life hit him.
His wife left. She said, "You love those children more than your own house."
His back started to pain from standing in the rain for years. He couldn't do mjengo anymore.
His own son joined a gang. The son told him, "You were never home to coach me, you were coaching everyone else's son."
One day, he went to the field. The new committee had changed the padlock. They told him, "Mzee, we have brought a qualified coach now. You can rest."
He lost everything. His family, his health, his team.
He sat on the sidelines for months, watching the new coach use the cones he had bought with his own money.
But here is what he did not lose:
Last month, one of his former players β now playing in Tanzania β came back. He found Coach Otieno selling boiled eggs at the stage. He knelt down and told him, "Coach, you didn't lose. You planted. I am what I am because you sacrificed."
He paid Coach Otieno's rent for a year. He bought him new balls.
Coach Otieno is back on the field. Not for money. Not for fame. But because a volunteer coach never really stops coaching β even when the world forgets him, the children he raised remember.