Behind every successful team is a snarling trainer with a whip in hand.At Kenya’s most decorated football club Gor Mahia, this snarling tormentor is a 25-year-old fitness trainer who despite his tender age has mastered the art and science of his trade.Hamisi Musa Juma simply is the youngest fitness trainer in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL). He is instrumental for a side that takes pride in the gung-ho style of football with Gor Mahia most often than not having to juggle between the league, cup and continental football assignments. The youngster packs very impressive credentials as he also doubles up as a physiotherapist. At 25 he is living the dream having already fulfilled his ambitions of making it into the medical field to honour his late father who was a doctor. Losing his dad just months after birth, he overcame various obstacles to realise his dream. Like every young sports enthusiast, he dabbled into football, Athletics and swimming during his earlier years and made swimming his forte. He was so good in water and on the tracks back in high school that in 2011, 2012 and 2013 he was voted Sportsman of the Year at Jamhuri High School.“I hunger for sports was on another level, I was inspired by my uncles one of whom was a renowned boxer known as Adbul Isandeko who represented Kenya in a number of international fights,”“Funny enough is that when I was young I developed a passion for swimming and I was very fast in running, the Jamhuri football team was very good at the time so I could not make the cut and opted to stick around other sports which made the Sports Man of the Year in three consecutive years,” said Musa.Musa was exceptionally good in the 110-meter hurdles race and earned a ticket to the national school games competition back in 2013 and also bagged medals in a number of swimming competitions.🟢 | ANNOUNCEMENT We are pleased to announce our new fitness coach Musa Hamisi #Sirkal #Betsafe pic.twitter.com/1kGcrnNSYa— 🏆 – GOR MAHIA FC (@OfficialGMFC) January 10, 2021 Despite not fostering a strong bond with his father after he passed away at an early age, the Majengo-born physiotherapist vowed to continue his father’s legacy which he merged with his passion for sports.“My passion was to become a doctor to honour my later date because he was in the medical field and he died when I was young, but sometimes you don’t become what you really want to be but since sports was my passion, I decided to do sports medicine,” he said.After completing high school, Musa enrolled for a course in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) that focused on aquatics before joining the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) two years later.His CV boasts a number of medical and fitness papers, including a certificate from the Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine Africa, St. John’s Emergency Medical Technician, and the American Council on Exercise (ACE).It was at MYSA that he received his first major breakthrough, as he excelled in an exam that was meant to hand the top student an internship opportunity as the Kariobangi Sharks assistant physiotherapist. He lasted a few months at Sharks before tasting his maiden success with the team as they won the 2018 Shield. Shortly afterwards he parted ways with the club after falling out with the management. Posta Rangers came calling and Musa left less than a month after quitting Sharks. While still at Rangers, Musa joined the Barcelona Academy that had pitched camp at Gems Cambridge and Oshwal Academy to further boost his knowledge and skills in the job.He was however faced with a dilemma knowing that his job at the Barcelona Academy would not last for the foreseeable future while the Rangers job had some assurity being a parastatal. It was at Posta that he build a name and reputation for himself as he started receiving referrals from players in different teams who were faced with an injury but saw his tenure at Posta end in August 2020 as the club failed to renew his contract citing the harsh times brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.Carlos Manuel Vaz Pinto 🇵🇹 & Musa Hamisi have both joined Kenyan Giants @OfficialGMFC as Head & Fitness Coaches respectively the club has announced ahead of their KPL match against @k_sharksfc@OfficialGMFC is home to South Sudan 🇸🇸 NT forward @OkelloTito9 🇸🇸📷 Club pic.twitter.com/BtsSo5njlr— Town Far Fredo. (@townfarfredo) January 10, 2021 “Posta called me in January but I had to choose between them and Gor Mahia, I chose Gor because of exposure and when I joined I found out that they knew a lot about me than what I had to tell them so I signed for them,”“I enjoy my time here because Pinto introduced me to Miguel Moreira, a physiotherapist at Paços de Ferreira in Portugal, and he advised me to take a four months course on Controlling Training Loads and Player’s Physiology,” noted Musa.Despite the tender age of 25 in line with his profession, Musa has handled three top tier sides in the name of Kariobangi Sharks, Posta Rangers and is now at Gor Mahia where he aided the side claim the FKF Cup.Asked what it takes to keep a player fit, Musa gives a lengthy account that involves a combination of exercises and data tabulation. “It is a very detailed program, I take every players history and do a whopper test which tells you a player’s social life off the pitch and it all depends on the integrity of the player because he will have to tell you how long he has slept and what he took,”“You then feed the information in your database and after the training, the players will then take you what they feel in terms of soreness and you will have to feed that in a spreadsheet and do some calculations depending on a number of factors which then if a player exceeds a number you know the player is at risk,” explains Musa.Musa adds that there are a number of factors to determine the fitness of a player and explains that for maximum performance a defender should not exceed 90 kilograms while a midfielder should not exceed 80 kgs and a striker should not shoot past 70kgs, however certain variables are accepted as long as you meet the BMI requirements. Musa burst into laughter when asked who is the fittest player at Gor Mahia and opened up on his toughest training regime,”“Hahaha, when I’m doing my speed and reaction routines I usually set it up in a way players can enjoy, but the competition is very stiff one person can win today the other tomorrow but I can say Geoffery Ochieng, he usually gives his all in workouts,”“Players usually hate it during the strength and endurance days, the players complain a lot but I have to be keen on which days I’m doing this because it is to be done days before a match,” says Musa.Yeeeeees…… and we are through to CAF Confed Cup after beating AFC Leopards in post match penalties. #Sirkal | #Betsafe | #MashemejiDerby pic.twitter.com/TE9SriYWsh— 🏆 – GOR MAHIA FC (@OfficialGMFC) July 4, 2021 The Jamhuri High School alumnus however complained about the congested fixture schedule that puts a strain on the players and his training routine and urged the Federation to release a fixture schedule that is not constantly affected by changes.Musa opened up on how he helped Brazilian forward Wilson Silva get in shape, the language barrier he faced and how Kenneth Muguna is able to ping long passes from his own half despite his diminutive legs.“Silva was out of shape when he joined Gor Mahia but I worked on him, by the time the league was being suspended he had started to catch up. I use to use Google Translate to communicate with him and I also had to learn some words such as run, faster, jog and walk but he also knew some English words,”“Your body does have to be big to generate a lot of power, there is something we call technique which when you use you can generate a lot of power,” said Musa.The majority of the players signed by Kenyans clubs never undergo medicals with a good example being AFC Leopards defender Tedian Esilaba being a good example as he suffered an injury a month after signing for the club.🟢 | WARM UP#Sirkal | #Betsafe pic.twitter.com/cq1kt5YuzR— 🏆 – GOR MAHIA FC (@OfficialGMFC) July 4, 2021 The physio who dreams of winning the CAF Champions League one day revealed the most horrific injury he has handled so far in his short career. “The worst injury has to be Harrison Mwendwa when Kariobangi Sharks were playing Tusker, his elbow rotated to the front side. The first player who arrived at the scene screamed, that how bad it was,”“He however did not stay out for two months and he returned in time to play in the Super Cup in Tanzania which Kariobangi Sharks won, so that is my passion, helping people recover from career-threatening injuries,” said Musa. Musa revealed that he has been advocating for clubs to conduct medical but the Achilles heels have been the non-existent equipment with a number of clubs not being able to conduct medicals when signing players. “We do not have that in Kenya because of lack of resources, I was advocating for this to be implemented, you find that a club signs a player but there is an underlying issue that becomes severe after maybe a month,”“We need machines in Kenya, I think there is only one in Kenya which is in Westlands but it is still not up to standards,” he said. Being younger than some of the players in the teams he has managed, Musa admitted that he has rubbed shoulders with players but emphasized on finding a solution which is mostly through talks.
