Budding football star Marion Serenge has opted to prioritize her dream of representing Kenya at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup over sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.The talented striker, who was instrumental in Kenya’s historic qualification for the global tournament, faces a clash between her academic pursuits and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shine on the world stage.The global tournament which is primed for 16 October to 3 November will collide directly with the KCSE’s dates.Harambee Starlets’ ace confident Juniors’ World Cup show will grow women footballSpeaking after receiving the LG/SJAK Sports Personality of the Month (SPOM) for June, Marion noted that after careful consideration and consultation with her family, she decided to focus on the World Cup, believing it offers a unique platform to showcase her talent and potentially secure a professional football career.“I will choose the World Cup because such opportunities come once and I can redo the exams next year. It was a hard decision but I also consulted my parents. My dad told me that opportunities come once and I would rather go for the world Cup,” she said.Her sentiments were echoed by her father Fred Serenge who noted that the global youthful fiesta was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and exams could wait.He, however, made a paternal plea to the Ministry of Education to make plans for Marion and the other students to sit for their exams after national duty.Former Kenyan International Fred Serenge who is Junior Starlets striker Marion Serenges’ dad, has sent a strong warning to pple who are doubting his daughter’s age, Ahead of the 2024 U-17 Womens World Cup that will be held Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 in October. #U17WWC pic.twitter.com/nJXNLMtVaZ— Toto Arege (@RuthArege) July 21, 2024 “As a parent, you invest in your child to go to school and make their future. However, exams can be done at any other time, in my opinion. Even at my age, I can still sit for exams. It is not an issue as of now. I tend to believe that the government is aware that these are candidates and they have taken much of their time in camp,” Serenge offered.He continued, “They have done their duty for the country and the government should reciprocate the same by showing that they will do their exams even later. But if it does not happen, Marion is still young. She still has time to do the exams. Exams have been there, but the World Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”Apart from Serenge, who studies at Archbishop Njenga, goalkeeper Velma Auma (Wiyeta Girls), defenders Christine Adhiambo (Nyakach Secondary), Lorine Ilavonga (Wiyeta Girls) and Velma Awuor (Nyakach Girls) are also facing the same dilemma.##NAJAVA_MECA_8229017##The Junior Starlets’ campaign began at the Abebe Bikila Stadium in Ethiopia, where they secured a 3-0 victory against Burundi in the first leg on June 9.In the second leg played at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on June 16, Serenge scored the opener after 17 minutes before Valerie Nekesa doubled the scores to bag a 5-0 aggregate win in the final round of the qualification.Junior Starlets are in Group C alongside Korea DPR, Mexico, and England and they will open their campaign aagainstthe latter on Thursday, 17 October.
