From Rejection to Redemption: Green Commandos Star's Journey
The top scorer at this year’s KSSSA national games in Thika did not glide to the summit. He clawed his way back.
Six goals in Thika fired his school to the regional showpiece and crowned him Kakamega County and Western Region champion. On paper, it looks like the rise of a natural talent simply following his path. The reality is harsher.
He once walked away from football altogether.
Chased Away, Then Called Back
His problems started early, long before the national headlines and the FEASSSA stage. As a youngster in the Green Commandos youth ranks, he was thrown out of the Under-12 setup for indiscipline. Not dropped. 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 rejection cut deep. It pushed him out of the game and into a period where, for a while, he did not want to play again.
Everything changed when a guardian stepped in.
“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 went back to the Under-12s, swallowed his pride, apologised, and earned a second chance. That apology became the first real turning point of his career.
A New Focus: Football and Books
From that moment, the talented youngster decided he would not waste another opportunity. The versatile wide player, comfortable on either flank and capable of filling in at left-back, began to treat every training session as a test of character.
“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 change in attitude quickly bled into his performances.
In 2024, still only in Form One, he broke into the school’s senior side. He did not just make up the numbers. He scored more than five goals in the sub-county games, driving the team into the county stage and underlining his status as one of the most dangerous young attackers in the region.
Those displays opened another door: a promotion to the Green Commandos senior team, then competing in the FKF Division One league. While his classmates were still settling into high school life, he was making his debut in the third tier.
Soon after, the Talanta Hela Under-19 call-up arrived. The boy who once walked away from football was now moving through the national pathway.
National Team Lessons in a New Role
The biggest shift in his game came with the Kenya Under-17 national team.
For a player known for his crosses, corner kicks, powerful runs and shooting, he could easily have been locked into the role of pure attacker. Instead, the national coaches pushed him wider and deeper. During the CECAFA Under-17 AFCON qualifiers in Addis Ababa, he was deployed as a left wing-back.
It changed everything.
“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.
He played every minute of that qualifying campaign, never substituted, trusted to balance defensive discipline with surging overlaps from deep. Those games sharpened his reading of the play, forced him to make decisions quicker, and taught him how to defend one-on-one while still timing his forward bursts.
Now, back with Green Commandos, those lessons are stitched into his game. The defensive instincts from national duty now back up his natural attacking flair, turning him into a more complete player on the flank.
Fighting to Finish Strong at FEASSSA
This FEASSSA campaign has not followed the script that his Thika heroics seemed to promise. The KSSSA national champions have stumbled out of the blocks, losing their opening two group matches to Uganda’s Kyadondo Secondary School and Tanzania’s Urambo Secondary School.
One game remains: Bukedea Comprehensive of Uganda.
Despite the bruising start, there is still something to play for — pride, momentum, and a proper send-off from the group stage. The school’s leading scorer, who once feared he might never play again, now carries the responsibility of dragging his side to a final victory.
He has already turned rejection into a career springboard. Now he wants to turn a faltering FEASSSA run into a statement finish.
