Daraja Academy now has an official football team (Kenyans refer to soccer as “football”)! Martin Husum Mikkelsen, a famous football trainer in his hometown Viborg (Denmark), agreed to volunteer at Daraja during his winter break. He has created a team of Daraja students interested in playing football and managed to build a strong squad for upcoming school tournaments.
Coach Mikkelsen has used students from MS Kenya, a Danish NGO on campus, to provide scrimmages against the girls. The first official match, however, is scheduled for Friday, February 5th against Nanyuki Secondary School.
We have footage of the first official Daraja pre-game press conference held by coach Mikkelsen and Relina, the team captain. Here is a clip:
Are you satisfied with the scores of your preparation games?
Coach: Totally! After a draw in our first game, we won our second game 2-1. It was awesome!
How did you find the team did during the games?
Captain Relina: The team was good! All players were doing their best.
But what will you have to improve to win your first official game on Friday?
Captain Relina: Every time we train we learn new things. We get better everyday; we will be better on Friday than last weekend.
What will be the team configuration on Friday?
Coach: This is top secret! But if you know me well, you can imagine that we will play safe, with 4 defenders.
The players seemed tired after the last game. Do you believe to be in a good enough shape?
Captain Relina: Yeah. You know, we gave everything during the game. But we will run a little for warm-up on Friday, it will be all right.
You have two amazing goalkeepers with Everlyne and Mary. Who will be on the field on Friday?
Coach: I haven’t taken any decision yet. But having each of them play a half of the game is definitely an option.
Captain Relina, what will you tell your teammates before entering the field?
Captain Relina: I will tell them to be good, to do their best! This way, we will win.
A prediction about the final score?
Coach: 3-0 for us!
Captain Relina: I think 3-1 for Daraja.
We will be sending a journalist on the field to provide exciting game updates so stay tuned!
