ESPODEC Starlets have received a major boost ahead of the start of the new FKF Upper-Rift Women’s Regional League. This is after welcoming their first-ever patron – Chemutai Kurgat.
Chemutai owns Chemu’z Ankara, a clothing and beauty business with shops in Eldoret’s Kipkenyo area, Nairobi, and Mombasa.
ESPODEC Starlets Head Coach Maurice Kamau told Uasin Gishu News that the patron’s arrival will boost the girls’ morale.
“Chemutai joining the team means the girls have found a mentor and a role model,” Kamau said.
“She will be a mother figure to our girls, something that we have lacked in the team since we started,” he added.
Why Chemutai Kurgat joined ESPODEC Starlets
On her part, the Chemu’z Ankara owner said she accepted to take up the ESPODEC Starlets’ patron role because she believes in empowering young women through sports, fostering teamwork, discipline and confidence.
She further pointed out that football is a platform that can allow girls to grow both on and off the field.
“Having grown up from a humble background in the same county like them, I also saw the need to mentor the girls as a way to show them that it’s possible to rise up in the society even through sports,” Chemutai said, adding that “our past should not determine our future.”
In addition, she pointed out that being the patron will give her an opportunity “to remind the young girls that sports offers a powerful avenue to steer them away from negative influence while nurturing their talents and helping them break boundaries both in sports and life”.
Last year, Chemutai Kurgat organised a largely successful football Tournament in Kipkenyo that ESPODEC Starlets won.
ESPODEC Starlets vs UOE Queens
Meanwhile, ESPODEC Starlets, based in Langas estate on the outskirts of Eldoret City are in action this weekend, away at UOE Queens for the first game of the season.
They are targeting promotion which they narrowly missed out last season.
[…] They recently received a morale booster after businesswoman Chemutai Kurgat joined them as club patron. […]