Alpha Rugby academy: Developing rugby to greater heights
It is 6:30 am on Saturday and four year old Waweru Gathecha is already up. He takes his
breakfast as his father helps park his training gear for practice. It is a great day for him
as he waits eagerly for his friend Charlie to arrive. Waweru and Charley are best friends
from school and today Waweru will be introducing Charlie to the sport of rugby.
This will be Charlie’s first day at the Alpha Impala rugby academy.
In my father’s footsteps
Waweru Gathecha’s is Gathecha Waweru’s father. He is a former rugby player perhaps
informing the young boys love for the sport. Gathecha senior played rugby as a young
man in high school. He extended his passion in university before playing some club
rugby in the UK.
Why rugby?
‘’ It’s a great game, character building sport and an excellent team sport.’’ Ascertains Mr.
Gathecha
‘’One day Gathecha said Baba please teach me how to play rugby. He made me buy him
a ball. He said now you must teach me how to play. I couldn’t teach him on my own. He
started taking his ball to school and playing with his friends Charlie and Maheru. One
day completely by chance I saw on social media that Impla was starting an alpha rugby
academy.’’
‘’ That was good for me because I know the importance of starting them young. That
how other professionals have developed from a tender age. It helps one be comfortable
with the ball in your hand and most importantly develop a rugby brain’’
The alpha rugby academy is instrumental in creating a system and guidance for the
upcoming talents.
‘’ I have not forced my son to play rugby. We will continue allowing him to develop so
long as he likes it.
‘’ If you look at any great players in the world, the all blacks and guys playing for Chipu,
the Kenya u20 many started at a fairly young age.’’
Academy background:
The Alpha impala rugby academy is a brain child of the impala Saracens a club that
participates in the top flight league, the Kenya rugby cup. The Academy was set up in a
bid to continue developing skills at an early age. The academy was developed by well
trained and accredited world rugby personnel and is guided by both world rugby and
Kenya rugby union regulations and standards.

The program takes in children from U6, U8 U10, U12 and U14. It runs every Saturday
from 8am to 12 noon.
Fred Ollows is the director at the Impala Saracens and is in charge of the academy.
‘’ The Alpha born out of the community academy that was born 10 years ago. The whole
academy concept now begins from 5 years all the way to 20 years. This is a specialised
type of training, we want people who are engrained in the game right from when they
are infants’’
‘’ We have some schools that are associated with us both primary and secondary. There
has been a lot of growth over the years’’
‘’The most important skills is ball handling and contact rugby so that the kids are not
scared.’’
Kenny Githinji is a parent with a rugby background.
‘’ I just want for my kids to learn the sport. It is good for them to get involved in
something that is good for them physically and psychologically and to learn a new sport.
What they get out of it, we will have to wait and see’’
The children are good ambassadors for the Academy as they introduce their friends
who join the camp.
With talents being nurtured early Kenya’s future in Rugby is great.