Kirwa bags Sjak award for September

Team Kenya’s head coach Julius Kirwa. [File, Standard]

Julius Kirwa, Team Kenya’s head coach to the World Championships which were held in Tokyo last month is the Betika/Sjak Coach of the Month for September.

Kirwa guided the team in bagging 11 medals (seven gold, two silver, and two bronze) over the nine-day global showpiece.

Speaking after receiving the award, Kirwa appreciated the organisers noting the role of the private sector in promoting excellence on and off the field.

“This is such a pleasant surprise and quite encouraging to realise that beyond the fans, there are also private sector players who are keen to see us shine. Such recognition will go a long way to increasingly give us the much needed momentum. Ours is to always grow the winning mentality as we focus on the next opportunity to raise our flag high,” Kirwa said.

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Marya Wachira, Betika Marketing Executive, noted the significant improvement from the last World Championships while underscoring the gap that the Betika/Sjak Coach of the month award has come in to fix.

“This performance marks a significant improvement from the 2023 Championships in Budapest where the team secured 10 medals including three gold, three silver and four bronze. For Team Kenya to have made such strides, leadership came in handy and that’s why we have made this strategic decision to have this monthly coach of the month award towards recognizing such outstanding leaders,” Wachira said.

On his part, Sjak president James Waindi said it was still competition among the coaches in the fight for the monthly award.

“We acknowledge the increased competitiveness across the sports disciplines as the future of sports in Kenya is very promising. Kirwa’s victory was earned against stiff competition from Nairobi City Thunder coach Bradley Ibs, KCB rugby coach Andrew Amonde and Kenya Under-20 Men’s volleyball coach Luke Makuto,” Waindi said.