by Ben Ayuko
{image by Daystar University Logo}
“The Falcons”
This is Daystar University’s team name. As in, the official name of the Daystar Sports teams. Any Sports team. Every Sports Team. And there are about 15 different ones. Let’s talk about that a little.
Sports have always been an area of pride in Daystar University with many resources being allocated toward developing the sports sector.
There is a management team that is in charge of running the sports department. This consists of
Th General Manager- Maurice Masiga
The Assistant to the Manager- Rachel Njoki Mwaura
The Head of Activities- John Yidah
The Head of Statistics- Barrack Khaseke
The Athi River Campus Sports Secretary- Safari Peter
The Nairobi Campus Sports Secretary- Daisy Kamau
These are the people responsible for allocating and maintaining the resources afforded to the sports department.
So, what are these Resources? Well, there are a variety of Arenas for the games that require them (Football, Rugby, Handball, Volleyball, Basketball, Tennis, etc.), a Gymnasium fully stocked with equipment, Falcons Kits/Jerseys to be worn whenever the school teams are participating in national competition, Transport for the sports teams to travel to and from Nairobi just so all the members can train together, and on game days where they have to travel. Their meals are also catered for by the school on the day.
That being said, just what are the Sports represented by the Falcons?
Well, we’ve already heard Football, Rugby (both 7s and 15s), Basketball, Volleyball, Handball and Hockey from the examples above. All of these have both their male and female teams {at the time of writing, Female Rugby is in the works}. Other sports include Lacrosse and Netball. All of these sports are done in the presence of the natural elements or “Outdoors” as they are referred. For the “Indoors” sports, there’s Darts, Athletics, Badminton, Chess, Scrabble, Lawn Tennis, Karate and Swimming. New sports are always being considered for this list. Currently, the word on the street is that Boxing will become the latest addition. (If you’re reading this in the not-too-distant future, did it happen?)
Some of these teams are big enough to be registered under KUSA (Kenya University Sports Association); the governing body that oversees sporting in universities in Kenya. This gives them access to the KUSA Leagues but still enables them to participate in the National Federation Leagues. For instance, The Football Falcons play in the University tier under FKF (Football Kenya Federation), Rugby plays under KRU (Kenya Rugby Union), Basketball plays under NBA Kenya (National Basketball Association in Kenya), Hockey under KHU (Kenya Hockey Union) and Handball under KHF (Kenya Handball Federation). These leagues are usually active from late June/early July playing various friendlies in preparation for the season which begins in September and runs up to February/March. The school team training usually happens on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5: 00p.m to 7: 00pm. The tournament games are played on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays.
This year (2024), the Falcons will also be participating in the East African Championship Games starting in December, having qualified for the competition. This is the competition whereby different teams from different Universities from different countries (in East Africa) get the chance to meet and test their mettle against each other. The following teams from Daystar qualified for the East Africa Games:
Beach Volleyball Falcons
Handball (Ladies) Falcons
Karate Falcons
Scrabble
The school also occasionally hosts sporting events. This includes the Floodys – a popular Basketball tournament, The DSL (Daystar Soccer League), Swimming Gala, among others. The “Beyond the Try” initiative is an annual Touch Rugby tournament orchestrated by the men’s Rugby Team Coach Caleb Bosire and his colleagues. Its aim is to promote school rugby and generate money to grant scholarships for talented youths. There is the “Sports Awareness Week“, a week which is dedicated toward exploring the pros and cons of sport and weigh them against each other, (and also recruitment of new team Falcons).
Now, the objective of any sporting activity is to determine the winner. Or at the very least, to show off one’s skill and proficiency in said sport. The Falcons of Character Awards (FOCA) Dinner, which is a dinner held exclusively for members of the sports teams, is hosted by the school and it is a way for the Falcons community as a whole to celebrate one another and crown whatever achievements were made in the year.
If you’re reading this article and you’re thinking about applying to become an honorary Falcon, you should. You don’t even have to know anything about the sport you want to try. The teams are more than happy for you to learn as you go. There are many examples of students who have gone into rugby/tennis/volleyball etc. without even knowing the rules of the game and later emerged as integral members of the squad. So go ahead and contact the Campus Secretary (Athi – petersafari211959@daystar.ac.ke, Nairobi- daisykamau223621@daystar.ac.ke) or the Sports department- Falcons@daystar.ac.ke in order to apply. They are always ready to assist you.
Falcons Take Matters into their own Hands.
Oh, I almost forgot, there’s also a ping-pong table in the dining hall and it gets very competitive. Almost as competitive as it gets at the pool table right outside the gym. I mean, these aren’t officially school sports, but you wouldn’t know it if you played a game.