Not many would have correctly predicted that the Nzoia Sugar Football Club would be bossing the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) standings fifteen rounds in the 2022-2023 season.The Bungoma based club is simply operating from cloud nine due to a number of factors, practices, coaching and the backroom staff whose contribution seldom attracts plaudits.Coach Salim Babu understands the significance of a solid team bond and respects the elements and secrets that contribute and promote cohesion in the unit. Babu acknowledges that team spirit has been a key ingredient to their success.”There are many things that keep the team together. In fact we live like a family. We train, pray, play and support each other. It becomes easier for me to coach a team whose constituents live like brothers. This goes a long way in getting positive results on match days,” observed the tactician.##NAJAVA_MECA_7014087##It is safe to conclude that Nzoia’s impressive run is not by fluke. It is a true reflection of the meticulous planning and organization employed by the management and the commitment by the players to replicate what they tap from the coaching staff on the pitch.The head coach and management occasionally draw credit for the good run but it remains an open secret that unfit players cannot compete and thus, the role played by the physiotherapists and other members of the backroom staff cannot be swept under the carpet.Behind the scenes, there is an unsung heroine who undertakes an important task of ensuring that the players are fit and observing the anti-doping rules.The Majority of local clubs have bequeathed this duty to men and rightly so, but the sugar millers took the less travelled route. The Nzoia Sugar honchos bestowed the physiotherapists’ role which includes assessing, diagnosing and managing injuries as well as reconditioning injured players to Carolyne Kerubo Akisa. EXCLUSIVE: How offering medical care in street football propelled Odongo to the FKFPLShe is among the three ladies whose proficiency enables them sit in the technical benches during top flight matches and discharge services whenever called upon toOthers include Mathare United team manager Beldine Odemba who doubles up as CAF B coach license holder and Kariobangi Sharks physiotherapist Rebecca Auma.The KCB FC technical bench also had a lady in Millicent Onyango earlier in the campaign but she has since crossed the border after landing a lucrative deal with Tanzania’s Fountain Gate Academy.Who is Carolyne Akisa and how did she land the job at Nzoia?Perhaps she drew inspiration from the old adage which says fortune favours the brave when hunting for the physiotherapist job at Nzoia Sugar Football Club.Akisa recounts summoning her courage back in 2021 and subsequently, approaching the Nzoia Sugar management to enquire if she could offer her services at the club.How football talent broke barriers for Wadadia trainer Joy WanjauJust like any other genuine job hunter would have done, Akisa was armed with her academic credentials during the brusque visit to the Bungoma based club and laid them before the honchos.Apparently, in her account, she ticked all the right boxes in the interview conducted days later after her visit and was ushered to the team in June 2021 as the chief physiotherapist, a rank she still holds up to date.”I didn’t work much in 2020 due to the disruptions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. When coronavirus dust began to settle the following year, I relocated to Bungoma and began hunting for a job,” she recalls as we sit in for the interview.Strength of a woman: Meet the madam driving Posta Rangers team busAkisa narrates that she strolled to the Nzoia Sugar backyard and met the club’s Team Manager John Muraya with just one thing lingering in mind, a job.“I had no clue that Nzoia were in search of a physiotherapist at all. I personally visited their offices and enquired if there was an opening. The management asked me to furnish them with my credentials and was later invited for an interview. I passed the tests and joined the technical bench in June 2021,” she recounted.Landing the job meant that she would be the only lady in the men’s team and would become the first one to sit on the technical bench in the league in recent times.Did she feel the element of isolation and being out of place? Certainly not. Her previous engagements and experience had prepared her to work and thrive in any environment.Soon after graduating from the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), Mombasa branch in 2011, Akisa’s search for a platform to implement her theoretical expertise landed her at Western Bulls Rugby Club the following year as a team physiotherapist.From child labour to football stardom – This is Moses Mudavadi’s storyShe worked with the rugby club for two years before making a switch to Kabras Sugar Rugby Football Club in 2014 where she stuck with the team for a year.Working with the two clubs saw her put the skills to test as well as amassed the field work experience courtesy of the training sessions and match day engagements.”I wasn’t really out of place when I joined the Nzoia bench considering that I had worked with two men’s rugby teams before. I was stationed at Bulls after leaving school. I was young and green by then but the three years I worked with them shaped me to be ready to work in any environment,” she offered.Before calling time on her stay at Bulls, Akisa who spends her free time reading books had not only discharged her roles but also nurtured her successor Derrick Iyadi whom she handed over the button to after securing greener pastures.Akisa joined the Makobe School for Children with Disabilities in 2015 after cutting ties with Kabras.Her hands rendered services at the institution for a year before moving to Kakamega where another organization offered her a better package.She joined the National Council of Churches of Kenya, Kakamega Branch in 2016 as a physiotherapist. She lasted at the organization for a year before proceeding for maternity leave.EXCLUSIVE: From a street kid to a lethal striker – this is the inspiring story of Josphat LopagaThe soft spoken lady was on the move again as she joined the Aga Khan Hospital, Bungoma Branch late in 2017 on a short-term contract.Upon the expiry of the contract with Aga Khan, a six-month deal to work with the Nairobi-based Stellar Physio in 2019 presented itself. She grabbed it with both hands and worked with Stellar before going for sabbatical leave.”Before joining the Nzoia bench I had gained enough experience both in sports and other dispensations. I had handled different patients and cases to a point that I was ready for any challenge,” she said.She concedes that working with the boys and in an environment that is largely dominated by men is quite some experience.As expected, she revealed that being on the receiving end of a beating makes her day in the office quite longer.”I have enjoyed every bit of my job at the club. The players are not cheeky at all. They respect me and the kind of services I offer. The management also appreciates my work as well. It feels good when the boys get to the pitch and come out with a win. I have invested emotions in the team to an extent that when we lose, it pains me,” she opened up.DopingMost of the local clubs outsource doctor’s services given how expensive it is to hire and remunerate a qualified one to handle the team on a full time basis.Occasionally, the clubs bestow the responsibility to handle issues or matters that should otherwise have been addressed by a qualified doctor to the physiotherapists.EXCLUSIVE: How Okanda revived his football career at the Kakuma refugee campGiven the far reaching effects of violating the strict doping rules spelt out by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK) Akisa has been taking upon herself to counsel her players against flouting the same.Although the ADAK net is yet to catch many drug cheats in football, she wants the Nzoia players to be safe rather than sorry by creating awareness and educating them on the kind of banned drugs and substances.”Out of all the teams I have worked with before, Nzoia players are the most disciplined. They take my advice seriously, especially on drug and substance use. They understand the need to play clean and observe the doping rules,” she said.Challenge to the girlchildEXCLUSIVE: How ditching football for Kabaddi has propelled Obiero to greatnessAkisa who intends to set up a massive massage parlor in Bungoma in future concedes that returning to sports in 2021 from the more than a year-long break was one of the best decisions she had made in life.She opines that working in the sports sector presents countless opportunities which all including women should jostle for going forward.”Football is an industry that continues to create employment indiscriminately. It is a source of livelihood that I would urge anyone bearing the interest to work therein to join. One can expand his or her network through sports,” she remarked.
