NAIROBI — The first and simplest ice hockey team in Kenya maintains to defy the odds through gambling and practicing the sport in one of the few ice rinks discovered throughout Eastern and Central Africa. Training classes are held at least three times a week at this ice rink in Nairobi. Here at Kenya’s solar-powered Panari Sky Center, the Kenya Ice Lions, the first ice hockey group in Kenya, became born. This pioneer group is now inspiring a brand new technology of ice hockey players who desire to extend the sport in Kenya.
Tim Colby moved to Nairobi from Ottawa in 2010 to paintings for the Canadian Embassy. Several months later, he could assist teach and teach Kenya’s first ice hockey team. “A few years ago, a few Kenyans wanted to take it up. Step it up a notch, play a lot greater severely and get into real hockey games,” Colby said.
“So, we took it up with some other Americans, Canadians, Slovaks, Swedes, and others. We commenced helping out a chunk, however soon, it failed to take time for the Kenyans to take off through themselves.” The Ice Lions have never had any other team to play. In 2018, the Canadian eating place chain Tim Horton’s flew 12 of them to Toronto to play their first real game, a friendly against a group of firefighters.
Eighteen-yr-old Gideon Mutua becomes a part of the team. Mutua, who commenced out as a speed and curler skater in 2012, says ice hockey changed his lifestyle for all time. “My biggest dream is to play inside the NHL, whereby you receive a commission to play. And one day, I assume my dream may be fulfilled,” Mutua Youthful gamers like Mutua are in which the destiny of Kenyan hockey lies, says Robert Opiyo, one of the Ice Lions
pioneer team contributors. “Most of us are quite senior. However, the future really lies with the kids. This is in which, most of the time, the strength and attempt are being invested. For us, we’re simply taking in all of the ache, the hardships, the trials to have it lots extra simpler,” Opiyo stated. Tim Colby believes there is a destiny for ice hockey in Kenya, even though the united states sits at the equator. “What’s really crucial for the game here is that we’ve got children playing, young ladies, younger boys, so more and more we have
become. This was once approximately 10, 12 Kenyans playing. Now we’re approximately 30, as a minimum half of them are young. When I say younger, I suggest under 15, honestly precise for the sport within the destiny,” Colby Ali Baba from China and Tim Horton’s have given sponsorship and equipment to the crew. Support for the group has also come from Finland, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia. There are plans to herald groups from Tunisia, Egypt, and South Africa in July for a event. The groups will play for a new trophy — the Africa Cup.
