Rugby Sevens - OLOO Felix

General
NAKURU RUGBY PIONEER
He began coaching in 2006 as a teenager. "In 2006 I went to Kamagambo Adventist College. Unfortunately, there was no rugby so I decided to introduce it, and with a string of lucky games and wins, people started to believe in me as a coach." After starting work as a mathematics and religious teacher, he began coaching players aged between six and 13 at New Life International school in Nakuru, Kenya, in 2009. "I started with 73 players and one ball. The number of players was overwhelming." After gaining support from Nakuru RFC, he was able to take youth teams on two trips to England, and the success of these tours saw more than 20 primary schools in Nakuru introduce rugby into their extra-curricular programme. He says the tours to England also helped developed a more holistic approach to his coaching. "Before the two England trips, I used to neglect a lot of things. [I would] simply teach skills [but] I forgot about other aspects of coaching like planning and emotional intelligence. Your outlook of rugby also changes [as a coach]. As a player, I used to think that rugby is everything. As a coach, I see rugby as a tool to help me get what I want in life." In 2012 he introduced the Saving Kids Rugby Mission [SKRUM] to help children living in slums and poor areas of Nakuru get into the sport. "The whole idea about the project was to get young boys and girls out of immorality, ethnic hatred. The project saw many schools join the sport." In 2013 he took a girls team on a tour to England, which helped spawn the first Nakuru RFC ladies team. His development of grassroots rugby in Nakuru saw him named Community Coach of the Year in Kenya in 2016. (eastafricatoday.com, 26 Apr 2021; kru.co.ke, 20 Nov 2020, 03 Jul 2017)

FORMER PLAYER
His dream to represent Kenya internationally was cut short by injury in 2011, but he believes his time playing domestic rugby in Kenya for Nakuru has benefited his role as a coach. "The important thing in the relationship between a coach and his/her players is trust. If players feel they can trust you then they will fight for you. Trust is easier to build if you were one of them. Coaching is a tough choice but very fulfilling. Never be afraid to fail, you never learn anything by winning all the time." (kru.co.ke, 20 Nov 2020, 03 Jul 2017)