From Rejection to Redemption: Green Commandos Star's Journey
The top scorer at this year’s KSSSA national games in Thika did not arrive at the summit on a smooth path. Six goals, Kakamega County and Western Region titles, and a starring role in his school’s return to the regional showpiece tell only half the story.
The other half starts with a dismissal.
As a youngster in the Green Commandos youth ranks, his talent could not hide a different problem: indiscipline. Coaches chased him away. He walked out of football altogether, convinced he was done.
"My football life started very early as a young kid. It got to a place where I did not want to play again, so I got a guardian who held my hand and returned me to football. I trusted myself and said, If I come back, I must perform and, I will make it," he explained.
Those are not the words of a veteran looking back on a long career. They come from a teenager still in school, still sitting exams, still boarding team buses.
Guided by his guardian, he swallowed his pride, returned to the Under-12 setup, and did the hardest thing for a young player to do: apologise.
"I had left football because a lot was going on. The first time I was in, I was chased because I was indisciplined, but I came back to the team and apologised and continued to play," he added.
That moment changed him. Not just as a person, but as a footballer.
A natural attacker, comfortable on either flank and capable of dropping in at left-back, he began to see the game differently. Training stopped being a routine and became a lifeline.
"That was at the Under-12 team. The thing that has changed me a lot is that I decided to focus more on football and education, so I need to train hard, and the training is what is helping me to gain a lot."
The results arrived quickly.
In 2024, still only in Form One, he broke into the school’s senior team. The stage was the sub-county games; the response was ruthless. He scored more than five goals, driving the side into the county phase and announcing himself as far more than just another promising kid.
The Green Commandos senior setup took notice. He was promoted to a team competing in the FKF Division One league, stepping into the unforgiving world of the third tier while most of his classmates were still adjusting to high school life.
He did not stop there. A call-up to the Talanta Hela Under-19 team followed, a clear sign that his trajectory had shifted from recovery to acceleration.
Yet the real transformation came in national colours.
With the Kenya Under-17 side at the CECAFA Under-17 AFCON qualifiers in Addis Ababa, the Green Commandos star was pushed into a new role: left wing-back. No hiding place, no shortcuts. Ninety minutes after ninety minutes, he patrolled the flank, asked to defend first and then explode forward.
He played every minute of the campaign. No substitutions, no rotation. Just constant running, constant decisions, constant responsibility.
For a player known for dangerous crosses, whipped corners, powerful runs and a fierce shot, the shift was an education.
"At the national team, I used to play as a wing-back. I did not play as an attacking player. So the experience I got there was valuable when I came here. I was pushed to play offensively, and so I used the experience I got as a left-back and brought it forward," he said.
That blend now defines him. The defensive discipline learned in Addis Ababa feeds directly into his attacking instincts for the Green Commandos. He reads danger better. He times his runs with more intelligence. He understands when to surge and when to sit.
It shows. At the KSSSA nationals, he finished as the top scorer, driving his school back to the regional stage and carrying the weight of expectation with a maturity that did not exist before that early setback.
The regional campaign itself has been brutal. The KSSSA national champions have stumbled out of the blocks at FEASSSA, losing their opening two matches to Uganda’s Kyadondo Secondary School and Tanzania’s Urambo Secondary School.
One game remains in the group: Bukedea Comprehensive of Uganda.
For some, it is a dead rubber. For him, it is a test of character, another chance to prove that the boy who was once thrown out for indiscipline is now the player his team turns to when pride is on the line.
The school’s top scorer is clear about what he wants from that final fixture: help the Green Commandos sign off with maximum points and show that, even in a difficult campaign, his rise is no accident.
