Kwale Sports Excellence, Rowan Mckellar kick-off implementation of mentorship programme for women

Kwale Sports Excellence C.B.O. in partnership with British rower and Paris 2024 Olympics bronze medalist, Rowan McKellar has officially kicked off the implementation stage of its ‘Twalenga’ Women in sports mentorship programme.

The community-based organization from Kwale County has been working closely with the British Olympian for the last one year with a vision of improving the standards of women’s sports in Kwale County and Kenya in general.

The initial phase of the program kicked off in January, 2024 and saw eight sportswomen from Kwale County go through a mentorship program under the tutelage of Rowan McKellar who shared from her experiences as a professional athlete.

This mentorship focused on different themes such as Sports and Education, Sports for Social Causes, Sports Nutrition, Safe Training & Female Health, and Sports for Mental Health.

Speaking to Citizen Digital during the organization’s first activity under the program at Diani Tigers F.C., Diana Heri who is a netballer and the Twalenga program lead expressed her excitement at what the future holds.

“We are at Diani Tigers F.C which is one of the few female sports clubs in Kwale County. We intend to work with them, other women sports teams, and girls’ secondary schools. Our aim is to impart what we learnt in the past year on the girls here.

“Rowan has been a big part of our journey as sportswomen in Kwale County in the last couple of months and learning from her has inspired us to try and do better for all the sportswomen in our community.”

According to Heri, sportswomen especially those still in school need to be guided on how to best balance their passion for sports and their pursuit of education.

“Most of the girls in our sports teams in Kwale County are still in secondary school. There is a challenge when it comes to trying to excel in both fields. It almost feels like one of sports and education has to be prioritized at the expense of the other.

“What we are trying to do is at least create an environment to make them all-rounded students. We believe that this way, we give them an opportunity for more success in the future,” Heri explained.

In Rowan, the girls in the TWALENGA program have the one of the best examples to learn from.

The University of California scholar has earned her place as one of the most accomplished rowers in the world through sheer grit and determination while simultaneously pursuing her degree in Sociology.

As she describes it, she has had to exert herself in her passions to succeed. “My rowing career has gone hand in hand with my education. Success in both is a juggling act and it is possible to be excellent in both if you prioritize both.”

Kwale Sports Excellence C.B.O. has planned to roll out all the aforementioned themes under the TWALENGA program in the coming months with Sports for Social Causes set to be launched in February.