 Welcome back to the touchline here on Y254. It is time for our first interview here on the show and today we are glad to host Sami Umbisa who was formerly of FC Leopards and is here to talk to us about sports and wellness. It is something that has not happened here in the country for a very long time. It has been happening in the outside world because sports on the outside world is very advanced but back here at home we are still in the knee stages. We are still in the crawling stages if I put it right. Sami, welcome to Y254. I never knew that you played for FC Leopards until one of our producers, Xavier, told me that you were a former FC Leopards player but before we talk much more about that please introduce yourself to us. Who is Sami Umbisa? Okay, Sami Umbisa is currently a wellness consultant where in wellness we deal with matters of mental health, physical health and emotional health. And so therefore we help people to try and connect these three so that they can achieve their goals at individual, at family, at corporate and at national level. Sami Umbisa has been in sports for quite a long time because I started my sporting career back then in Kakamega High School, the Green Commandos where we were the nationals champions and then I moved on to Super League then went to the Premier League before then it became Premier League and finally got myself playing for the national under 20 team which was my climax and at the moment also I came to play with the FC Leopards and this was the highest level of football that I was able to play at. Which year was that you played for FC Leopards? I played for FC Leopards between 2003 and 2004. Yes and it was a time when it was very difficult because it was just after a very powerful chairman who had really funded the team and then the team had no chairman who was very specific and we really fought hard to keep the team going. Players going without salaries, the management going without salaries and there was no insurance there was no there were no contracts but out of the willingness to further our footballing career we stuck on there and did whatever we could do. Yes tough times, tough times I remember we played for 2004 four years later FC Leopards was relegated from the Kenyan Premier League and it was brought back by a legendary the late George Uasakala brought it back with the Gilbert Celeboa bringing the FC Leopards. Do you miss playing back there now? Of course also age catches up and you would wish to be there but some things you can't do now like for example I can't imagine being between defenders and struggling for the ball and keep falling and coming up but then playing was a nice thing because it also helped some of us after school to keep away from the possible challenges in the society like addictions to drugs and involving ourselves in certain things and sports generally is a good thing Before we get into the niti graches of what we are supposed to talk about today let's talk about what has been trending the whole day yesterday this morning the FC Leopards new kit when you look at it you of God say that is my team Yes I was actually impressed because first of the design of the kit and when I had the Dr. Dan Shikanda saying that this is this can be used in either of the occasions of our lives either as a weekend outfit or as a fans can use it the players themselves and I like that idea of commercializing making this merchandise be used for the purpose of bringing in revenue to the team that is actually a very good thing and then now you finished playing now education you went on to further your studies how did it happen that you got yourself into wellness and behavior change because that's something that is is an intrigue to me I did not expect to know that there's someone who played football and knows about this subject because our players needed today more than ever So actually what happened is that at the one time when I was at the national under 20 camp one of our coaches I remember that was Coach Sami Nyongesa told us to remember that there's life after football and so keeping the discipline and also having goals for your future is important and that's the time I got challenged and said when I hang my boots I need to get started to something that will create a future for me and so I pursued studies I pursued studies in Canada I pursued studies online as well locally as well and yeah here I am I am able to run a company that offers this kind of services and I'm looking forward to assisting many of the players with it What is it that you actually do now just explain to us what actually you do Yeah So basically in wellness I have been able to go on the ground and meet young people who have challenges ranging from addictions of drugs and therefore I've tried to help them understand the effects these things would have on their lives and therefore what are the possible ways you can bring yourself out of that and start getting structure for a life that will make you a better person at the end of the day so that's what I do most of the time I also go to rehabilitation and treatment centers where I offer the same skills mostly life skills to these people who are already into addiction treatment and help them to start getting the structure again to bring their lives back to where it can be productive and helpful for them So that's basically the bottom line and on the lower level where we have the under 8s and 10s and up to 6 years we are teaching them life skills that will help them also try to understand that there is something I need to do for the sake of building a foundation that will help me become a better person even when I go to high school and after high school So I work with communities I work with school children I work with people at the corporate level and then I'm now moving to the sports arena where I'm seeing a bigger space to work with sports people You know, in the sports arena that's where I'm concerned about because that is actually my field of the players you have tried how are they taking it because you realize here in the country our players are really frustrated A player who plays in the Kenyan Premier League is a frustrated player he is a player who is in a situation where he does not get a salary at the specified time he is a player who goes hungry he is a player who is not sure about how his family is going to be tomorrow and when we look at even their diet these are players who finish playing go home and take a smoke this is something that is going to relieve them at the end of the day these are players when you walk into our Nairobi urban life you'll find them chewing Mira at the end of the day So how are they taking it from your end? Actually I've dealt with two categories the first category is players who are in institutional clubs they say company owned clubs and then I've dealt with these other groups where it's players who are from clubs that are just funded by funds for example communal clubs So the first category they kind of have a certain contract though it may not be very good but there's a certain contract where they are sure of getting something at the end of the month and if they make it on the first 18 at least when they go to a trip and they win the match they can get something but then even that group the bottom line from that first group and this second group there's quite a lot of stress in players and this stress for some it has built into depression and now this mental aspect is making them even a good player who was nice and very talented in the beginning you give them six months into the league their performance starts going down why? as you mentioned one they don't have financial support that is adequate to keep them I once met a player and the first thing he asked me if I could buy them a packet of milk they had just come from training and it shocked me and then because I had been in this kind of situation in my days of playing I understood and suddenly when I bought one two others came and we sat down and as they took the milk so diet is another aspect players are using their muscles their energy but they don't eat enough proteins they don't eat adequate carbohydrates at the end of the day if you look at an international match you'll see most of our footballers have tiny bodies so we don't have good dieting financial support for the players and then one other player also got injured and they had a fracture they didn't know for a long time they were just being treated and then when the doctor decided it was a fracture and they were put on the plaster we realized that also there was no insurance to take care of this and so you find friends all friends who just love the game would chip in to help these players but how long can the friends do that so it's important that as we go along just to answer your question is that the challenges they are facing are making the players in need of reaching out to people but even out there the people they can reach to who can understand their situation are few yes so yeah so it's a point where it's either the clubs are commercialized to make more money to help the players or also we come up with what I call player player centered approach the player centered approach where we make sure that the player is the first person we take care of before we take care of the referees before we take care of the club officials so that we have the player get a contract we have the player get an insurance even if it is NHIF so that if they have a young family they can take their child to the clinic for treatment and trust me my bro these players really need these things as you have also said the challenges to do those other things they are social life they are social life they are social life yes you go to the workout in the morning and then in the evening then Saturday you go and play what do they do during their free time yes I think this is the time now we need to come in to mentor them and tell them more about preparing for the future because you will not play football until you are 50 yes and and as you mean by 30 you are done you are done you are done and if you get a fracture into your 30s it's even more worse healing can be very difficult so we need to come up with a situation where when they are free we come up with programs to help them mentor them coach them not the football coaching not the life coaching aspect and also encourage them to get involved in some kind of savings and some kind of social life activities like joining a circle all that but the player cannot join a circle if they don't have an income yes they cannot do it those are the kind of discussions we need to come up so that we can take this spot to another level well we are here with Sami Umbisa formerly of FC Leopards and who is now a wellness coach here in the country and is working with some of the best companies here in town Fahari wellness company and life coaching company that's where Sami works and is in in a situation where he can help players here in the country we are joining this conversation this is the touch line at Y25 on social media is where you can catch this program at the moment let's go on Sami and now talk about education yes when you look at you played football you had the mind to go for that education and now you're back and you want to give back to society and you have traveled outside then the world and you have seen how the world works how key is education to the world of sports that's a very nice question now the first thing even if you look at those international coaches for example Joseph Morino and all that those coaches have a master's degree in coaching they didn't just come out from nowhere and they are this where they are and so it's very important that we as we play the game we also look at the education aspect because once you have knowledge in your head it can never go out yes you can always move around with it but once the football talent declines because of age or because of other factors there you are stuck so my encouragement to the footballers out there and any other sports people is to just try your best and when you're going to finish your form 4 get a grade that can take you even to the diploma at college start there I started at a diploma I didn't go to the degree and slowly you find once you complete your diploma you can go to your degree and you can go and you can choose like I chose wellness is something that is related to what I was doing so you can always choose courses that are related to the things you love and that is sports that's nutrition that's well-being and so my advice to all players all sports people is endeavor to try and get yourself a grade that can just take you to a level where you can build that will be your foundation you build blocks on it and go up in 10 years like for me the last 10 years I've taken it for studies and here I am so this life after football less encourage our people to our players to look at it with a clear mind and it will help them this is actually one of the best segments I've had here on the touchline having a former player who has actually gone to school Sami is not alone some of the players who have actually made it in the world of academia and education mostly actually even from F.C. Leopards Dr. J.J. Massiga formerly of F.C. Leopards was a captain for both mini machine and also F.C. Leopards and he guided them both to trophies and it was not that we've got Dr. Danny Shikanda who is actually a veterinarian doctor here in the country and some of those players in our generation here we've got the likes of Paul Kiyongera earning their degrees we've got Alan Wanga of Kaka Mega Humbos who is also going on to school and lately actually also we've got even Ronaldo Koth graduating with also an international business degree here in the country so going to school is really really very important to these players now yes you went to school but there's another one I have to ask you about and that is behavior change and psychology this is another one when we talk about that everybody thinks of doctors and the medical field but for you you're bringing it to the sports field how is that working for you? actually as you can look at the dynamics that are happening in the world and especially in the sports field if you take a player who is not mentally settled to the ground they might not perform and that's why you can see many teams that are very well organized they will have even a sports psychologist working together with the team and the work is very simple we want to motivate these players to be better on the ground and off the ground because life doesn't just end on the ground so after the noise and the funds and everything you have a life that you're going to meet at home so what do you do with yourself mentally and this way we will be able to reduce the amount of stress that the players are going through and so behavior change is very important because a human being transforms in stages so you cannot continue behaving the way you used to behave when you are 16 maybe at form 2 you need to now realize that at 30 when my footballing career starts to go down there are responsibilities that I'm expected to take on and therefore with a good clear mind you'll be able to handle that when you are well prepared well we've been talking to Sami Umbesa who is actually here who is a wellness coach and also this one also you are talking live and motivational speaking yes you have done it for corporates but in sports how is it working in sports we just started actually after the corona we just started before corona hit in and then we got stuck a bit but now since things have started showing up we have come up with a structure where we want to you know go to the clubs go to the management of the various clubs and not just football alone all sports and now start talking to them about the importance of this and that's why as I mentioned earlier apart from doing a player centered approach we want now to do a holistic program that will help the club will help the officials of the club will help the player himself so those three pillars are the ones that make the club so we are going to move in and approach the clubs and we are open any club that is willing to reach to us for these motivational and behavior change coaching skills for their footballers for their hockey players for their rugby players we are ready to work with them one thing I've got to put you on the spot is here in the country dealing with a Kenyan player first you have to deal with the people who run football in this country have you tried it with the federation because anytime someone comes on and wants to help the player and if you are doing it for charity the federation might not be happy about that they might be like hey this guy wants to come here and take over from what you are doing how has been your relationship with the current football leaders in the country actually I'll be very honest with you even for previous years it's not always very easy to penetrate the federation because they have their own structure of doing things however even these last three months we've had a period of transition because people have been preparing for elections so it wasn't a very good time for us to approach them but as I said earlier this is an opportunity you know you can only do so much we will give them the idea and when we realize we cannot work with the federation we'll move to the lower tier of working with specific clubs and as you know some clubs have elites as you said for example Dr. Dan Shikanda I doubt Dr. Dan Shikanda is one person who will say no to a good cause so I'm looking at a scenario where if the federation can do it we can do it with the clubs we can do it with individual players because look at that player for example I mentioned who is asking you to buy them a plate of food and they are from the club it was actually a very bad scenario I remember we were in Machakos remember we were in Machakos doing a Kenyan Premier League game and there was a team that players were going to the field of play without lunch these players had come from home some of them had not even taken breakfast and they had going on to play a football match remember it was Fuma Harambe Stasco Jakub Ghostimule who was a commentator there was a sports commentator now he went on to his pocket to buy food for this player so that they can go ahead and play this football match so you can actually see how dire that situation is and you can imagine you eating now and scientifically you need to take some time before you engage in a vigorous activity so even you eating the food and jumping in the field will still make you not perform well so and that's why I'm saying structures are very important and you know dialogue and talking and working together is the only way if a federation or if a club things they want to continue doing things the same way we shall just admire our African countries like you see Ghana Nigeria and there we don't say they don't have problems but the player centered approach is very important start with the player you don't have to keep 40 players if you can't pay them why don't you have a good outfit of 28 players and take good care of them talking of Wrangles and when you talk about 2003 when you are at the prime of your career with FC Laopals that is also the time when Kenyan football was at its peak when it came to football Wrangles Yes day in day out we had court cases if it was not Samnyamwea forming football Kenya limited it was Muhamed Hatimi Yes Samnyamwea says it's Kenya football federation now Muhamed Hatimi comes with football Kenya limited it was a tug of war and came about the formation of the Kenya primarily now you are hearing that the contract is over and Kenya primarily is going back to the football Kenya federation do you see that on materializing to something good or it's just something bad we are expecting at the end of the day I can tell you for free if the approach is going to be the same we'll continue having the same problems whether it is Samnyamwea on that position or whether it's you so the approach must be changed and we need that's what I'm saying we need to talk and we need to even change our mindset everything starts with the mindset is the player important yes or no if it's no then can we have a federation of officials alone now coming on to changing the mind also comes on with the changing of the culture and all that and you look at a situation where we are here in Kenya you look at a situation where I saw an article today someone talking about a South African company Maltese is planning to take over the rights of the Ethiopian primarily there are also rumors going around that they might go to the Tanzania primarily because they are attracting funds they were here at home and they left because we do not take care of that chance now also for the funds can they change can we change in that we can wake up in the morning on Saturday we don't care about EPL what is happening in La Liga but say it is Saturday 4pm we are going to an FC and Gorma Yama and Nyaya will be full pack can the fund change also yes the fund can change and look here a fund is looking at the leadership so if the leadership has a problem the fund will also not be motivated because the fund is paying his own money yes and at the end of the day he knows he's going to pay maybe 300 as entry fee and they will only hear that their players have continued to stay hungry when the officials have received the money so that's also a problem that the funds as they want to change they are looking at the leadership so leadership is the beginning point then it flows down to all the other levels now we talked about the mindset yes mindset can only change if you start looking at things in a different way you cannot expect good results if you continue doing things the same way you've done every other year and like now we are going to have new officials I don't know who will win or who will be going to that office I think this is the right time now also support of government needs to come in yes government also needs to say okay fine we have athletics doing very well we have you know how many gold medals do we have or gold trophies do we have that have come from football since the years now it's it's long it's long it's very long but even this morning we've just watched what is happening in Doha yes so if we want to see the same in football we don't want a case where our winners of the Premier League just go and play an international match and you're putting the same draw within an Arab country and you come back home in four goals and we keep blaming the referees we keep blaming but where did we did it start going wrong it has started going wrong in the leadership aspect yes this player is going to board the plane but the family who was just a new wife and a baby in the house he's not even sure whether there is money at home to take care of those people yes so I repeat again leadership is the starting point we will try to talk to these people and see whether we can work together because without a good leadership we'll go back to the same same problems yeah finally how can people find you because now there's something new that people need to learn and know about how can people find you just tell us where people can find you and also your company okay first of all you can find me through the internet if you log into Fahari Wellness and Life Coaching you'll see our contacts you'll see the website and you can also reach to me personally through my safari kum namba it's always open to receive all those requests should I mention the number so my number is 0723 030244 and also I work with in partnership with organizations like the the Kanope treatment center which is helping people some who have been in sports who are now into drugs to get them out of drugs and receive treatment I've also worked I also partner with the Kenya Institute of Business and Counseling Kipko which is also offering the same through niche wellness limited so niche wellness limited is also a place where I sit on the management and there we are able to reach out to the various people especially now that we are targeting the sports fraternity we want to help the sports people more again I repeat my number is 0723320244 Yeah Thanks a lot Sami for coming to the touchline here on why to for hopefully we can host you again and talk about this more because it's a new field for sports here in the country thank you so much we have been talking to Sami Umbisa formerly of FC Laupats who is now heading for Hari Wellness it's a consultancy company where they deal with wellness, behavior change, psychology for the player and for the future of players so if you need motivation there's nowhere other than Y254 and this is where you can get guests like Sami Umbisa to give you that now that's where we come to the end of this segment let's go to a break with what happened in the UFA Super Cup as Bayan Munich came from one goal down to win 2-1 in extra time to lift their fourth trophy this season and also their second treble in their history it is Bayan Munich and also they aren't them because it is Bayan and they are the champions of Europe