Meet USA Based Kenyan Coach Using Soccer To Change The Life Of Youths In His Native Country

He might not be one of the most famous footballers to ever come out of Kenya but David Kenga certainly got a touch of class on and off the pitch. The Kilifi native, now a soccer coach in the United States is out to change the state of the Kenyan football scene.Also, a graduate with a bachelors’ degree in Biochemistry, the 37-year-old has rolled out a number of soccer programs in Kilifi County and is in the process of putting up a soccer complex in Kaloleni.

With the help of his friends and contacts, Kenga collects soccer equipment in the form of jerseys, shoes and balls after which he sends them to Kenya. He visits the 254 three times in a year.

“I want to help guys who cannot afford to play the sport and enjoy it and  get to the next level just because of financial responsibilities,” he said during one of his interviewsAccording to him, his focus is on kids and the youth because they are the future. He also says that working with the younger ones is his calling.

In the USA, he coaches kids after school. Having started with only 10, he has seen a great rise in numbers and now has over 500 kids he is mentoring and coaching.He also carries out training drills and challenges on his social media sessions and also posts them on his mobile app called Elite soccer that is now a darling of many due to the ongoing lockdown in various parts of the world.According to the soccer coach, the true success of a player is determined by where he is from and for this reason, he is out to paint a smile on the faces of his people from Kilifi.

With three and a half acres of land under his name in Kilifi all thanks to his dad, David’s dream of having a football complex in his hometown is almost being realized.With Kenya having few qualified football coaches, Kenga has called for the training of more coaches as possible as they are the key driving force in the success of any footballing nation.He also has a soft-landing spot for young footballing talents in the country and has promised to get them scholarships in the USA so that they study and do what they love which is play football.

Kenga left for the USA in 2003 to join Winthrop University in USA where he played college soccer for three years. In 2006 Kenga’s prowess earned him a semi-professional jersey at the Indiana invaders team where he played for 2 years before joining an even higher and better-ranked league where he was signed by Charleston Battery in April 2008.

Two days after his signing at Charleston, Kenga made a big leap of his career in his first USL first division debut when he came in as a substitute against Miami FC. He went on to make 17 appearances and score one goal before being released at the end of the year.

Since he was not able to sign on with a professional club elsewhere, he returned to the amateur Indiana Invaders in 2009, playing 6 games for the South Bend side in the USL Premier Development League.He started his coaching career at South Carolina United and is now the head coach of Elite Soccer Training.