From Rejection to Rising Star: Green Commandos' Prodigy
The top scorer at this year’s KSSSA national games in Thika did not arrive at the summit on a smooth, straight road. Six goals, a Kakamega County crown, Western Region glory, and a starring role in his school’s return to the regional showpiece tell only half the story.
The other half starts with a chase-out.
Chased Away, Then Called Back
His talent was obvious early. As a young kid, football came naturally, the ball almost glued to his feet. Then it all stopped.
He was thrown out of the Green Commandos youth setup for indiscipline. Not dropped quietly. Chased away.
"I had left football because a lot was going on. The first time I was in, I was chased because I was indisciplined," he recalled. The setback hit so hard he walked away from the game altogether.
That could have been the end. Instead, a guardian stepped in, pulled him back from the edge and back onto the pitch.
"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.
He swallowed his pride, returned to the Under-12 team, apologised and started again. Same club. Very different mindset.
"I came back to the team and apologised and continued to play," he added. That moment, as a boy in the Under-12s, became the hinge on which his entire football journey would swing.
New Focus, New Player
From that point, the change was clear. The youngster, capable of operating on either flank and comfortable even at left-back, decided his life would revolve around two things: football and education.
"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 work began to show.
In 2024, still only in Form One, he broke into the school’s main team. He did not just make up the numbers. He scored more than five goals in the sub-county games, dragging his side forward and into the county stage.
The performances caught the eye. He was promoted to the Green Commandos senior team, then playing in the FKF Division One league. While many of his age-mates were still finding their feet in school football, he was already stepping into the third tier.
He made his Division One debut as a Form One student. The rise continued with a call-up to the Talanta Hela Under-19 team, another sign that his second chance at the game was being fully seized.
National Team Lessons in a New Role
The biggest shift in his development came when he pulled on the Kenya Under-17 jersey.
At CECAFA Under-17 AFCON qualifiers in Addis Ababa, the Green Commandos prospect was not unleashed as a pure attacker. Instead, he was deployed as a left wing-back, asked to track back, defend, and then explode forward.
He played every minute of the campaign without being substituted, trusted to balance both sides of the role: hard defensive work and relentless overlapping runs that sparked attacks from deep.
For a player known for dangerous crosses, whipped corner kicks, powerful surges down the flank and a fierce shot, the positional switch changed how he saw the game.
"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.
The national team stint sharpened his reading of the game and his decision-making speed. The defensive discipline picked up in Addis Ababa now underpins his attacking freedom for Green Commandos, turning him into a more complete, all-round threat.
Fighting to Finish Strong
Back at school level, his transformation has been stamped in numbers. Top scorer at the KSSSA nationals in Thika with six goals, he powered his school’s return to the regional stage as Kakamega County and Western Region champions.
But in the FEASSSA campaign, reality has bitten. The KSSSA national winners have stumbled out of the blocks, losing their opening two matches to Uganda’s Kyadondo Secondary School and Tanzania’s Urambo Secondary School.
One group game remains: Bukedea Comprehensive of Uganda.
There is no title guarantee now, no easy route out of the group. What remains is pride, and a chance to walk away from the regional stage with maximum points in their final outing.
For the school’s leading scorer, once chased from the youth team and now central to everything they do, the mission is simple: make sure the last word in this tournament comes from Green Commandos.
