From Rejection to Redemption: Green Commandos Star's Rise

He walks into a pitch these days as Kakamega County and Western Region’s golden boy, the top scorer at the KSSSA national games in Thika with six goals to his name. But that is not where his story really starts.

It starts with rejection. And a warning.

Years ago, the youngster was kicked out of the famed Green Commandos youth setup for indiscipline. The dream looked dead before it had even begun.

"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 walked away from the game for a spell, frustrated and angry. Then came the turning point. Guided by his guardian, he swallowed his pride, went back to the Under-12 team, apologised, and asked for another chance.

"I had left football because a lot was going on. The first time I was in, I was chased because I was indisciplined, but I came back to the team and apologised and continued to play," he added.

That decision changed everything.

From that moment, the versatile youngster — comfortable on either flank as an attacker and equally at home at left-back — began to treat football differently. The talent was there. The attitude caught up.

"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 work soon showed.

In 2024, still only in Form One, he broke into the school’s senior team. He did not just make up the numbers. He scored more than five goals in the sub-county games, dragging the side into the county stage and announcing himself as Kakamega’s next big thing.

Those performances opened the next door. He earned promotion to the Green Commandos senior team, then playing in the FKF Division One league. While his classmates were still adjusting to high school life, he was making his debut in Kenya’s third tier. A call-up to the Talanta Hela Under-19 team followed, underlining his rapid rise.

Yet the biggest shift in his game came in national colours.

With the Kenya Under-17 team at the CECAFA Under-17 AFCON qualifiers in Addis Ababa, the Green Commandos prospect was pushed into a new role: left wing-back. It demanded running, discipline, and constant decisions in both directions. He embraced it.

He played every minute of the campaign, never substituted, patrolling the flank, tracking runners, then exploding forward with overlapping surges that launched attacks from deep.

For a player already feared for his whipped crosses, teasing corners, powerful runs and clean striking of the ball, that tournament became an education.

"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 defensive lessons from Addis Ababa now mesh with his natural attacking instincts. At school level and with the Green Commandos, he looks more complete: reading danger, timing his runs, choosing when to cross and when to drive inside.

That growth has been vital this term, especially with the pressure of regional competition.

The KSSSA national champions have stumbled at the FEASSSA games, losing their opening two fixtures to Uganda’s Kyadondo Secondary School and Tanzania’s Urambo Secondary School. One match remains in the group — a clash with Uganda’s Bukedea Comprehensive.

It is not the campaign they imagined, but there is still a chance to leave a mark.

For the school’s top scorer, the mission is simple now: finish with a win, finish with goals, and make sure Green Commandos sign off with maximum points.