Strict Barasa to implement national team regime at club level

Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) women's league defending champions Kenya Prisons' head coach Josp Barasa says he has found the missing link to his clubs' local and continental glory. 

Barasa who has been with the Tokyo-bound national team, Malkia Strikers, since March says strength and conditioning coaching has played a huge role in transformation of Malkia Strikers as we know it and thus he will extend the same to the club level. 

"I have seen the benefits of investing in a strength and conditioning coach and incorporating it in our training regime. This will change how we play the game. We have been good locally and have made inroads continentally but imagine how much we would change our game if we made such an investment. Being physically fit gives the players confidence and the agility to execute plays that would have been tough when one is not well conditioned," Barasa posed. 

Additionally, the tactician says training each department on their own brings a different perspective to the game as and gives the coaches time to give each department the attention it deserves. 

"Training as a unit is not a bad thing but giving each position a session of their own improves the effectiveness of training. When they finally come together, every player knows their drills and all you have to do is bring cohesion and the plays run like a well-oiled machine. It also means we use less time to work on and learn a certain drill because the attention and focus is only on a few players," added Barasa. 

Kenya Prisons finished third in the last Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) women's Africa Club Championships as the Games concluded on April 30. The team last won the Continental title in 2013 when coach David Lugh'aho was in charge but since Algiers ended the team's four-year dominance in 2014, North Africans have not relinquished the title with record champions Al Ahly SC bagging four times and Carthage twice, including this year's title.

Lugh'aho was in charge at this year's continental event as Barasa was tied up with Malkia Strikers in camp. 

Meanwhile, Barasa says the national team is in a good place to cause some upsets at the Tokyo Games as the training they have gone especially under the FIVB seconded Brazilian technical team is a game-changer. 

Malkia Strikers leave the country on Thursday, 8 July for Kurume City for a pre-Olympics camp before moving to Tokyo when the Games begin. They are accompanied by Barasa, head coach Paul Bitok and part of the Brazilian coaches' contingent.