 Yes, welcome back. This is the touchline on Y254 and on to our second part of the show, which is the interview and we are glad to have our members from the e-sports, that's electronic sports officials and also players and the coach. Of course, leading this is none other than the president, Rony Lusigi, who have met severely on such platforms, interview platforms. Thank you so much Rony and Rony is accompanied by Collins Ngugi. Player and also coach Solomon Kahiga, Karibuni Sana on Y254, the touchline. Rony, great to have you. I mean, it's also common knowledge that all those who follow the sport know how the government has embraced and is talking about e-sports and this shows the steps that the Federation has done in popularizing the game. Yeah, thank you very much, but now we are happy to be here at Y254 and I'm happy to also come back now as a world record holder. Before last year when I was here, I was not yet president. Now I'm president and I'm the youngest president. That's the record of a sports federation in the whole world and the mountain planets combined. So, yes, we are really on an awareness drive since we took office in September. Just trying to make sure that e-sports reaches people outside the e-sports space. We want to expand the space, we want to expand the audience, we want to expand the knowledge of people so that people incorporate the ones who decide where the marketing dollars are sent are able to know what e-sports is. People in schools, parents, kids are able to know what e-sports is and we are happy whenever we have the support of the media like Y254 to give us this platform, to talk to people, to make them aware, to make them know how good this sport is. So we are happy to be here. Yes, Collins, how easy was it for you to pick between adventure, role playing and simulation? How easy was it for you to pick on the type of sport that you take part in? Thank you. It was easy because I started gaming when I was in class 3. I love gaming, I love video games and it was easy because I sang in a team. San Tiagoi have gamers. Now being crowned under 15 champion, what kind of confidence did it give you in a final village when you're playing and you're winning and even becoming a champion? It's like a dream to me to win and compete against adults. Yes. We are happy when you win and we are happy. Coach Solomon has also trained e-sports coordinator at MKU, right? Yes. San Tiagoi, I'm glad to be here. Like President Roni has said, we are in a drive to talk to people about what e-sports is all about. Because we've said that even government agencies don't know like last year, we were struggling finding a passport for one of our players. And when you were trying to tell them what e-sports is all about, they were like, what kind of sport is that? But now with the right focus from the media houses like Y254 that is giving us is a good thing. Also as a coach I've had problems with parents because you find parents have that notion that e-sports is all about time wastage. As they say, there's one parent, when I first reached out to her, she was like, Io mahali watu wanabuta bangi niwata kama tatuangu wakuwe. And now we're trying to clear the notion that e-sports is streamlining. It's a proper sport and that parents now can entrust coaches or people mandated to teams with their kids like the parent to Kolo. I had to sit her down and explain to her, I've seen Kolo since he was young. He was gaming at my gaming den and the talent and the discipline I saw in him, I saw that he's propped for greater things in future. So the parent now after our conversation and deliberations, now she handed Kolo over to me in that when Kolo is not in school and is not at home, the parent knows that Kolo is with me. You asked him about how easy it was for him to choose between which type of game he would be playing. At the gaming den he used to be good at fighting games, but owing to the fact that he was good also at field game which was football and now FIFA which has transformed to FC-24, I think it was easier for us now to decide because you combine the knowledge from the field and now the little interest you have in football gaming to deciding on what game you pursue. Kolo, when you were championing EO FC-24, what did you think about the fact that you were able to fight and play? Training and finding something different from the other gamers. Now you will find out, you will find a researcher. Looking at the professional gamers like Anders and PhD, they are pro gamers and they are like I learn from them, watching them play tournaments. Roni, Bamiham might have been 2 years ago but it was big. The Federation had a chance to stake their name and really push and introduce the game to everybody in the country. This year how big is it for the players from this particular country putting in mind that last year it was also a good year where the likes of Demon did so well and they did even perform so well at the elite. Ya, thank you. As you say over the past 2 years we are starting with the Commonwealth in 2022. Kenyan eSports players have been going to the international stage and it is really our intention as the Federation to find as many opportunities as possible to take people like Collins and other players to play at the international stage. What we are really focusing on in our first 2 years, the next 2 years that are coming are not even to go for the titles. If we get the titles it is well and good but first of all we want to instill that experience, to instill that belief that our people can compete internationally. So we send as many of them as possible to this international competitions. We tell them have fun, enjoy yourselves, get the experience but be that it is may already our players are ahead of our schedule While we are still speaking of participation them they are already elevating into achievement. Solomon has a young girl who is coaching her name is Shalindirangu. Last year she went to Saudi Arabia Afro Arab eSports Championship the whole of the Middle Eastern African countries combined and she finished second place in Saudi Arabia. We saw also Demon as you said Eric Demon went to Nigeria finished second place, went to France won maizodimondekap So I think players are also showing us that they are ahead of schedule they are eager to go out there and that the skill gap is not that big. There are games that we can feel like simulation football that the skill gap is not that big but there are also other games that we feel like especially for the mobile games and games played on computer we feel like we need to provide more platforms and as we speaking now some of them are competing online in PUBG mobile and Call of Duty mobile games because they have an opportunity to play in the Nigerian competition in May where they will face 17 other countries so for us it is very important right now to get our people out there to make people know that Kenyan players exist and to also demonstrate to as you said government, the corporate, the parents that we have this opportunities at the international stage Yes indeed and when they are winning now the federation is forced to catch up to the players when you are planning but they are winning they have one step ahead so it means that the federation has to play catch up Yes, it is always good when you are talent it is always good when people show you they are ready when you thought you yourself you thought they are not ready but it also shows you because Kenyan is a digitally native country it is a country where anything that is digital you will find people who are there and you know right now they are saying everywhere it is about kufinia computer so in e-sport these people also pressing those buttons and they are getting dollars they are getting good money but also beyond the money they are getting a lot of experience we are seeing leaders develop there is a young man called Alan who has gone with the women e-sports team to two world championships now and it is barely 22 years the way he has been able to develop as a leader even if you employ him here 2254 he can show those skills he can organize your team here he can tell this one ensure you come early tell this one ensure you are disciplined so the social impact that e-sports is giving people the self esteem it is giving people some of them come here that is when you start to see their parents saying this person was not stokative but these days he or she is stokative but it is because they are not finding people who love what they love they feel like they are in a space that they are being respected you know you are in class and when people are saying I am good at this you are normally quiet but now when somebody says I went to sing kwaia in America you tell him I am also coming from London or Paris to play e-sport so muna pelikan Coach I love in your setting up the e-hub the club that you set up just like five or six years ago one of the achievements could be Collins here who has gone on to become the 15 champion and also be ranked among the top eight but what are some of the other milestones that you may talk about from the e-hub the milestones are like Roni has mentioned we also in e-hub we have ladies category whereby I have five ladies among the team members and one of the achievement is that Charlie got to represent Kenya and Africa in the Afro Arab League and then we also have Ayang Man also by the name Kapa Harithuku but now Kapa was signed to a different team he is now signed to a different team but I take it to I take it as with pride that I discovered him when he was young as a kolo and now that he is able to compete even at the international level is a great milestone for e-hub too also we have leaders like our captain Michael Ngwai who was able to represent Mt. Kenya University in inter-university tournament whereby he represented Mt. Kenya University versus Mt. Kigal University he majed the champion we also have Sharon Noethera who was also representing Mt. Kenya University in that inter-university e-sports tournament and she was top we also have Banis Wangari who was the top in our inaugural Kenya University e-sports league it's an initiative that we are pushing that now to have apart from tournaments from Taani we now have tournaments for institutions whereby institutions are embracing MKU being the pioneer to embrace e-sports and we also have the institution now forming e-sports team venture and trying to push their players to participate in the e-sports and colleagues already you've won you've won this year I mean it's a great success for me it's a great success for me achievement and I hope for more to come even for the future what other competitions what numbers are you looking forward this year the Elegwan next month and the there's another tournament whereby the children and the adults played I hope to be there Elegwan ita kwa jaya maana oki Shiriki We saw Shiriki before I know this is the third time it's coming back competitions are Elegwan before it's the first time so how important will it be for you I'm taking it as a great opportunity to participate in the Elegwan and I hope to emerge victorious yes indeed and he'll be the youngest to ever go if he makes it he'll be the youngest to do it in his category he's now at the right age Elegwan goes 16 and above so the reason he's not been able to participate before as coach can confirm he was younger than the threshold but now he's there we are seeing his agement in Europe called Anders who is also doing wonders and this also shows what we really want to do together with coaches like Solomon and other people we want to start from a younger age we want to start tapping this talent early so it's also a challenge for us as a federation that people like college players like college should not have to wait until they're 16 to get this big opportunity we should go for them where they are in their teenage have those teenage categories so this means that the establishment of hubs will be so key or how are you planning to approach this first is the school system already we have a few secondary schools we are speaking to watch this space a very big girl's school in Nairobi chances are yes in Nairobi metropolitan let me say in Nairobi metropolitan Nairobi metropolitan a very big girl's school they wear green uniform they be soon hearing things there we have ignorance from the parents from the teachers there is also a very big boy's school they also have a green sweater I don't know what is this green sweater because be like a ingwefan I don't like green colors I like your calm mentioning because you are winning but those two schools are very important we also have a school like Saint Christopher's with an activation there in the high school last year so we are going to the school system to move quicker and train people so that you can have many more solomons apart from training many more solomons we also want to certify them so that parents can also feel safe the same way in Soka that they know Bernard is a trained coach Bernard is certified and they can hold Bernard to account and if they can't find Bernard they know the federation knows who Bernard is so we also want to go to that level that we will be able to certify coaches so that if you walk into a school you have already gone above the integrity threshold the federation has looked at you and also you can transfer those skills so we will need a lot I am saying there are going to be a lot of job opportunities because if all these schools are coming up and they want to have a resident coach it means there will be job opportunities that we will be creating which goes in sync with what our cabinet secretary for sports normally says monetizing talents you just don't monetize the playing talent so we want to have as many coaches as possible we also want to upscale the knowledge of teachers so that we can't send a coach a teacher at least has the basic knowledge a teacher knows if this kid is playing maybe the distance between the kid and the screen maybe the kid should be hydrating and things like those the teacher and the parent are also able to understand the age rating of certain games because certain games are rated 13 others are rated 18 so this is a knowledge that we really want to impart and we will also be combining with our official means social media and our websites we are working on revamping them so that you can find these resources you don't have to physically find Rony for you to get these resources or to physically find Collins or Solomon you can easily go online and we are receiving a lot of support from the British Esports Association to do that also receiving support from the French Embassy in Kenya so that we are taking the expertise of these people in countries that are ahead of us in Esport because we believe Kenya can be an Esport giant already the other continents the Esport giants have formed in Asia it is China even the president is big on Esport in the Middle East it is Saudi Arabia supported by his royal highness Bin Salman in Europe President Macron is leading that in North America it is US and in South America it is Brazil but in Africa people are still looking for the compass and we want because this is the home of mankind and this is also the silicon savana this should be the place that people in the next few years can say go and look at Kenya at Esport and we believe we return yet that we want to do this in a regulated manner we know because the freedom that Esport has had this may be uncomfortable but we are encouraged by people in our community that we need to have checks and balances if you are going to run a tournament you are going to have 200 people you should show us do you have first aid you should show us do you have security you should demonstrate if you said your prize money is a million you should demonstrate where is the bank statement showing you have this million shillings because you also have had the case of rogue agents and rogue tournament organizers but if we don't carb right now we may go maybe even to the unfortunately you see in other sports like doping so as a federation we also going to really work with the Esports community to ensure that we are able to have rules and regulations that can ensure Esport is practice safely so that we grow in a regulated and safe manner yes and coach Labda when Rony was speaking about building the capacity of coaches what was going on in my mind was how badly people like you needed so about training like myself I am self taught because I used to be a player we played much on FIFA during the covid time because everybody was indoors and much of my experience or whatever I translate to these young people is what I learned during that time and also as we progress we keep on now learning there are online tutorials on some things that you need to capture from a player when they are playing or when they are practicing but now with the help of the federation we now have that certification like he is saying like for instance when I was pushing for Esports at Mount Kenyon University it was hard for them first to understand after a point where like my boss now knows me when he sees me he calls me Esports because I kept on hammering but you see now with the certification I can prove to them these are my papers this is what I have done this is what I can do we have also visited at Santiago we visited Mangu High School during their last year sports tournament and we got an opportunity to showcase to them what Esports is all about like we say we are pushing everybody is on board we don't wait for a time when someone is about 20 plus years to get into Esports but at a tender age where they can now start learning the basics by the time they are getting to 20 because I believe 20 is there almost the prime age they will be ready for any challenge yes indeed and to colleagues where do you go to school Brother High School they support you you have other colleagues who play with you no why? because you are a coach solo thank you what are your thoughts what do you think I don't know but I want to know so your target is to become an Esports champ what else in Kenya what are you looking at what titles are you looking at becoming the Kenya one becoming the first game in Kenya participating internationally winning the international titles yes indeed that's colleagues Gugia team sensation in Esports before we wind up the forthcoming events of course league one the Kenyan auditions just the selection process happening next weekend there will be numbers huge numbers coming up how ready are you to take on the numbers as we finish up just to touch on what Solomon said we really congratulate Mount Kenya University for becoming the first university in East and Central Africa for adopting Esports as a co-curricular sport like any other and even sponsoring to a huge part the first ever Kenya University Esports League I know he has already many state commendations but we will find something else to award Mr. Dr. Gisharu the chairman of TMKU because he has taken a very visionary step back to the Iligwan tour as we said we are taking Esports to every corner of the country so this time we have challenged ourselves that Iligwan has been happening in Nairobi alone and this is an opportunity to go to France to fight for a competition of 1.2 million shillings so we said why not make it bigger so yes we are going to Mombasa and Nakuru and Mombasa being County 001 will be the first one so next weekend on March 2nd will be there in Mombasa Mbaraki Sports Club famous for soka and other things we are taking Esports there and we are looking forward to see diversity we are looking forward to see diversity in gender diversity in people in locations diversity in age the young ones and the veterans just to show this up and also in May we shall be taking Kenyan Esports players to Nigeria for the GMAX competition also in April we are still finalizing a deal to take people to Egypt coming down in the year we have the Global Esports Championships set for China this year we want to go big there so we believe this time we should be speaking about knockout stages in the games and we are also speaking with the Global Esports Federation to bring an Esports competition of continental nature here in the country it's a discussion we are having together with the Ministry of Sports and I'm hoping towards half of the year we shall be having good news to the African Esports community because they are yearning for an African national competition officially done by a global federation so we are speaking to that we will see a lot of goodwill and support from our leadership President Christian from Singapore and our CEO Mr. Paul J. Foster so we believe that we shall be able to push that but we are also receiving a lot of goodwill and support from the government I know we have even heard the Prime Cabinet Secretary Salyam Davadi saying Esports should be taken seriously you've seen Waziri Ababuna Muamba spending our events playing with us here we've seen even when you are there when you are doing the forum for the federation Esports being prominently mentioned again and again by the sports registrar by the people in the sports fund that this is an emerging sport we should look to so we hope for that and also we are closing in to football because it is the most popular sport in the country to try and get a few football teams to also have their Esports versions of teams giants of course like AFC Leopards Gormahia Shabana also emerging teams like Karyobangi Sharks Bandari teams that are very keen on digital tasks they can afford one player per team so that we can have an EFKF Cup because now FIFA has the FIFA women's FIFA men's, FIFA youth and the EFKF Cup so we already have FKF women we already have FKFPL so we have an opportunity to have an EFKF and also to go to basketball and to have an EKBF those two titles those two sports are very popular in terms of the Esports and simulation and of course the safari rally you see those racing rigs everywhere so we want to speak to the traditional sports federations let them know that we are enablers of their sports yes indeed that's Rony Lusigi the president for Esports Federation of Kenya of course talking with us on the plans for the Esports and what's coming up next of course what's coming up next is next weekend there will be the qualifier so selection for the Liguang players and only very limited slots available but you encourage to come out and participate in the selection thank you so much colleagues go give the team sensation and all the best may you become the Liguang champion and as well as coach Solomon thank you and so continue nurturing more and inspiring the rest of the world beaters will come and take over the sport and become teachers of teachers just like you thank you so much for gracing touchland this lovely afternoon we take a short break we'll be back with the fund zone