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Tall? I’m only 6”7!”
His protests aside, Rogers Mutai is incredibly huge - which I suppose you have to be if you are a center-forward in a premiership basketball team.
 At only 24 years of age, Rogers has a stack of feathers under his cap, and a history of incredible success in his sport of choice. At the time of the interview, he was in preparation for the national premier league finals that will pit his team, Co-Op Bank against KCB Lions, with full confidence that his team will walk away with the title this season.
It is no surprise that Rogers is easily one of the best players on the basketball scene right now. It has been a passion long in breeding. Growing up in Juja, Rogers discovered his love for basketball on the courts of Jomo Kenyatta University (JKUAT) at only 11 years old. He remembers fondly how playing basketball was the pastime for the boys in the estate, and thus piqued his interest. By 13, the university’s coach had noticed their ‘team’ and invited them regularly to play games with JKUAT’s female team.
It was also in class 7 that Rogers gave his life to Christ, a decision he concedes set his life on the right path. He would go on to become vice chair of the Christian Union and youth leader at the JKUAT inter-denominational church.
It wasn’t long before Rogers’ way with the ball earned him a call up to the university’s team while only in form two at Moi Forces Academy (MFA). At MFA, he would be an integral part of the team that became a force to reckon with in national school competitions. Rogers went ahead to join JKUAT in 2002 for a course in Information Technology, while at the same permanent place in the university team’s starting line-up.
His big break into the league came when the coach for Coca-Cola’s Sprite Stomerz team spotted him at a tournament. Impressed by Rogers’ skill on the court, he called him up into the team. Amazingly, this call would change his mind about joining the army and its team, Ulinzi. As fate would have it, his first premiership game with Sprite Stomerz was against Ulinzi! He recalls that game with a smile:
“My whole family was there, to watch my first premier league encounter…and here I was, playing against people I’d always considered my role models, guys like Peter Kiganya. It was unbelievable. Understandably, I didn’t do too well that day, but I enjoyed myself!”
Things didn’t turn out too well as injuries plagued Rogers mid-season, forcing him to stay on the bench for a good part of the season. It didn’t help that the team was disbanded at the end of 2005. For a whole year thereafter, Rogers was mostly out of action, until the beginning of 2007, when he started training with the Co-Op Bank team.
Two weeks of intensive training and he was back in form – so in form that the Co-Op Bank coach wasted no time in signing him to the team. He was back in track, and admits it has been an amazing and challenging year for him as a player.
Rogers concedes that his faith has been tested many times, especially because vice seems to abound in the sports world. Nevertheless, he has managed to stand strong, and what more, influence the people around him. He says:
“I have learnt to be bold about my stand. From the first moment, let everyone know that I am saved, and therefore, they shouldn’t expect me to fall in with their ways. I keep tabs, and I know that my mates are being influenced by my lifestyle – when they see me play clean and still win”
Greater plans, including starting an Under-14 basketball team in his neighborhood, are in Rogers’ mind. He’s thinking of ways to engage his skills in influencing other people’s lives, conceding that basketball did a lot in building him as a child, and he would love to give this opportunity to the kids.
As involving as it seems, basketball is what Rogers does as a hobby, a 6-8pm discipline, and when he’s needed for games. The rest of the time, he’s a fast-rising Maintenance Control Planner with the national carrier, Kenya Airways.
“There’s really no competition between the two – I love my job, and I love basketball. I’m a hard-worker, and both tasks are demanding, but I like that. We are more than conquerors!”
It doesn’t look like anything is about to stop Rogers from getting to the very top of his game, and his work!
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