By Mr. Adili – Sports teacher and coach at Madago Primary School

Hello everyone,

It is my pleasure to get the chance to tell you the story of this season’s football teams of Madago Primary School – a story of motivation, a story from which we have learned that we can re-write our narratives, and believe in ourselves and our power to succeed. 

I have been in Madago Primary School for 6 years now. During this time I have witnessed various competitions concerning sports games. The children in our school have always been playing well, hard and seriously showing their pure talents. However, our teams have never been able to reach higher levels. There are various reasons for this – ranging from the uneasy conditions to the lack of being properly prepared. It seemed that we were simply lacking the kick that gave us the so much needed ‘winner attitude’. 

While Madam Timeea was visiting our school, I started to tell her about our sports teams. She immediately got interested in how the children were playing. Since our school was going to host the sports events during the coming week, I proposed her to equip the learners with football jerseys. And so she did, YOUng Steps Kenya made one of our dreams come true – we now have a common identity, all players wearing the same colors, players being able to choose their favorite number on their shirt. It is almost impossible to explain how much this has contributed to the motivation of our players. Children started practicing even harder and promised us and themselves that they would have positive results.

So now, this is the moment where magic started to happen.

The day Madago was hosting the games, the teams played well and won almost all the competitions. They did wonders by defeating their opponents in all the games played. And, most important, they qualified to proceed to the next level. These news made our headteacher, Madam Kheri, very glad. Having tasted the pleasure of winning, the teams promised to show miracles in their next games, at cluster level, which they also conquered as never before. Everybody at the pit was gazing at the shining jerseys of the Madago players, and how they were working wonders in them, writing a piece of school history. The atmosphere was amazing.

This is how we reached the zonal level competitions. I took my teams there and, again, they did marvelous, winning game after game, both boys and girls. We progressed to sub-county competitions,  where 64 schools were enrolled. Madago still emerged as heroes there. They dominated a good number of games, and many team members were chosen as best players, who then climbed up the ladder to the county level games.

We had never gotten so far, there was a lot of pressure, but we were trusting each other and ourselves. The official games opening ceremony was unforgettable, with the Madago players proudly marching in their shiny green jersies, drawing all eyes on them.

The games started with a round of 16, after 90 minutes Madago was winning 3-0. The team proceeded to quarter finals, which they also played well and won 1-0. This ensured us a move to the semifinals, which all players confronted with courage. Aaaaand another win – we had made it to the finals. Never before had this happened, an unbelievable moment for all of us.

The next day, we played our huge final. Winning would have ensured us a place in the regionals, and eventually in the nationals. We lost to our opponents with 2-1, however our enthusiasm is limitless, we are all walking with our heads high.

Once back home, we have started training for next year’s games. We now have a new dream which we will achieve next year – that is going to the national competitions. Small acts really do change our attitudes and the way we see ourselves. Now we believe in ourselves, have our identity and know our worth. We know that with this morale and the hard work we are willing to invest, there is nothing that we cannot conquer!

See you next year at the nationals! Remember that you should be cheering very loudly for us!