By GPC Sports Desk
Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala has expanded his grassroots sprint development programme with the launch of an Omanyala Sprints Club at St Joseph’s Boys National School, Kitale.
The launch on Tuesday came only days after the Kenyan sprinter established a similar club at his alma mater, Friends School Kamusinga, as he continues a schools tour aimed at building a structured pathway for young athletes to progress from grassroots competition to the highest level.
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Omanyala said the St Joseph’s initiative followed nearly two years of discussions with the school and expressed satisfaction that the partnership had finally become a reality.
“I am feeling happy and blessed because we have been having these conversations now for almost two years and I am glad that now we have finally actualised it,” he said.
The African 100m record holder said his ambition was to see the school produce sprinters capable of making an impact at school, regional and international level.
“It will be my joy to see sprinters emerge from here, I am sure they will. I am grateful to the Principal, he is a great friend and it was easy for me to reach out and say that I was coming and all this happened,” Omanyala said.
He challenged the new programme to demonstrate measurable results on the track, saying he preferred performance to promises.
“I do not like talking too much, I like my actions speaking for themselves, so let us meet here again next year after the East Africa school games and see the impact that we have made from our side and the coaches side in terms of technical expertise,” he said.
The launch also produced an unusual connection between Omanyala and the school. The sprinter holds the African 100m record of 9.77 seconds, while St Joseph’s Boys was reported to have posted a mean score of 9.77 in last year’s Form Four examinations.
“I feel like the connection was just meant to happen. Last year, I was told that the form fours had a mean score of 9:77, and my African record is 9:77,” Omanyala said.
He, however, expects both figures to change as the school seeks to improve its academic performance and he targets further progress on the track.
“But I believe this year it will be something different, and of course even for me next year I will be targeting something different, so all of that will be erased at some point,” he said.
“I do not believe in coincidences but I believe in this one.”
The programme will extend beyond the students already enrolled at St Joseph’s Boys, with Omanyala saying the initiative will scout promising sprinters from different parts of the country.
“I am looking forward to impacting not just students who are currently in this school, but also to bring talented students from Grade Nine. We will go and scout from the regional level, and bring them here, with of course the permission of the school,” he said.
As a national school drawing students from across Kenya, St Joseph’s Boys provides a potential hub for identifying sprinting talent from different regions.
“This is a national school, and it is breeding all kinds of students from all over the country. So, this is something that we are going to spread across the country and develop talents. Different communities will be touched by this,” Omanyala said.
The Sprints Club is intended to go beyond giving students a place to run. The programme combines structured coaching, technical expertise, talent identification and mentorship to help promising athletes turn raw speed into competitive ability.
St Joseph’s Boys Chief Principal Cosmas Stephen Simiyu Nabungolo welcomed the initiative, saying the school had an opportunity to unlock its athletics potential after years of limited investment in the discipline.
“We are only the best now, even in athletics. I want to thank Ferdinand Omanyala for launching this Sprints Club at this school. The boys are elated, we are all very happy,” Nabungolo said.
He said the partnership would provide the school with an opportunity to identify and develop sprinting talent.
“This will give us an opportunity to showcase our athletics talent, especially the sprints. For a long time we have not been investing in athletics and in the sprints, but now we are privileged to have the Omanyala Foundation preparing our students on matters sprints so that they can be good athletes,” he said.
Nabungolo said the school hoped the initiative would produce athletes capable of competing at the East African level.
“On behalf of this school, I am very grateful for this opportunity. Come next year, we look forward to having even more talents in the school, who will compete up to the East African level in Rwanda,” he said.
“This is how to nurture talent. We do not take it for granted. We have a platform to grow and harness athletics, thanks to our own Ferdinand Omanyala,” the principal added.
The Kitale launch strengthens Omanyala’s growing network of school-based sprint clubs, through which he hopes to identify talent early, provide young athletes with technical support and create a pathway from school athletics to elite competition.
The initiative also reflects Omanyala’s own journey in athletics. Having concentrated on rugby during his school years and discovered his sprinting potential relatively late, the 100m star has increasingly made early talent identification and development a central part of his legacy.
Through the Sprints Club programme, Omanyala is seeking to give the next generation the coaching, mentorship and competitive opportunities that he believes can help young athletes discover and develop their potential much earlier.
