TOKYO 2020: Malkia Strikers ready for action

Coach Paul Bitok and his Brazilian counterpart Luizomar de Moura are ready to guide Malkia Strikers to what could be the beginning of a new era in Kenya Volleyball as we know it. 

The team has been in training from March and the moment is here now. As they go to the Olympics stage having not played any friendly matches to test the training's effectiveness, coach Bitok says the players are ready. 

"We have done everything there was to do within the period we had to prepare and we are ready. We are waiting to face Japan on Sunday, 25 July. We were not able to play any friendly matches in Kurume due to the strict government policies on contact with locals and the friendly against Argentina has not materialised yet but we are upbeat of a good show come game day," said Bitok. 

Malkia Strikers have been under the Brazilian coaching staff, seconded by the FIVB for a week in April, during a scouting visit and Since the second week of May and Roberto Opice Neto, the team manager believes that use of technology in the team's training has helped the team get the best preparation. 

“We incorporated the catapult, a GPS device where each player is wearing a specific sports bra that measures performance during training. We have been able to evaluate each player as the technical bench. We assist the streng and conditioning coach with that data to prepare the training sessions for each player and also how to avoid injuries," explained Neto. 

The team began using the device back in April and it helped coaches prepare individual training sessions for each player. 

"Volleyball is a collective sport, it is a group sport, but you cannot treat the libero the same way as a setter for example. Each individual player for each individual position needs a specific type of training and also a specific type of exercises to avoid injuries. Those measurements (in the catapult) have been helping us to measure from the heartbeat to their jumps. How many jumps they do during a session and how high they can jump. We retained this data which is real-time and send to the strength and conditioning coach who analyses it real time and knows how to push each player in that training session," he added. 

Malkia Strikers were the first team to leave the country for a pre-Games camp in Kurume City and the technical bench says they used the time there to get the players focused on the task ahead. 

"The preparation in Kurume was focussed on the tactical system and also what we will be facing from our opponents. We are playing Japan in our first match, and now coach Omar and Bitok were able to set specific types of strategies to face japan and South Korea who are our first two opponents." 

Kenya is in pool A that has hosts Japan, third ranked Serbia, Brazil who are ranked fourth globally, South Korea and Dominican Republic. Poll B has China, United States, Russia, Itally Argentina and Turkey.

"Playing Brazil will be really strange for us because the Brazilian coaches (in the Kenya team) know each of the players (in the Brazil team) very well. Four of Them played for Omar’s club in Brazil and getting to meet them will be interesting to see how we will share our knowledge and expertise on how Brazil play with the Kenyan players. We do think Kenya will be doing well but we really want them to enjoy playing Brazil. Brazil now is in a different level where we want to be with the Kenya team in the future," opined Neto. 

The Brazilian coaching staff forwarded by FIVB are part of the governing body's Volleyball Empowerment high performance coaching pilot project. Part of the programme targets high-level national team performance and empowers these teams with the human and technical resources needed to unlock their full potential. Resources include coaches, trainers, managers, physiotherapists and data analysts. 

"With this volleyball empowerment project, we really want Kenya to break the ceiling in this Olympics and beyond. But I know for sure in the future, Kenya will be one of the top players in the world," Neto concluded.