Jane Wacu
The setter who was behind most of the continental victories at both national team and club levels is making all the efforts with her teammates to claim their eighth continental title in 16 competitions to be a new passion for her before she joins her club, Prisons to the FIVB Club World Championship in Switzerland next match when they will represent Africa for the fourth successive time.
“I feel we are in a good performance to retain the title for the second successive time and the eighth in total. We are ready to face any team,” Wacu said after the third straight victory in the tournament. We had different strategies to face any opponent and we know we can do it,”
It was a crucial moment when Wacu shifted to volleyball while she was involved before in other sports like football and Athletics but at that time she didn’t realize that she will be one of the icons of the Kenyan volleyball National team years later and she will be the African champion at both club and national team levels.
When Wacu was 8 she became famous for her sprinting ability while she was a student in the primary school. At that age she was much faster than her colleagues and that property attracted the physical education teachers to choose her in the Athletics team to run in the sprints events.
“The teachers thought I’m talent to run in 100 and 200 m races as well as the long and high jump and I was already training for these kinds of events for years later,” remembered Wacu
What was more confusing to her is being involved also in the football team of her school and through which she was chosen also for the selected team of her region. “When I have become 16 years old I had to choose between volleyball, football and athletics and it was the crucial moment when the two coaches of the national team David Lung’aho and Paul Bitok visited me at school to choose me for the first time in the Kenyan volleyball national team. I was very happy with this news but I was confused because they told me I have to leave the other sports and concentrate only on volleyball.” Wacu Commented.
She didn’t think for a long time because she already preferred volleyball than others and she feels that it will be her future sport.
“I took my decision in few minutes and even when the Athletics coach asked me to participate in a sprint race I told him that my career in this sport is over and I have to concentrate on my main sport volleyball. Really I’ve got a lot of benefit from Athletics and football; they gave me the flexibility and the speed that I used properly in volleyball.”
She started her career as an attacker in her club then the coach advised her to shift to the setter’s position as it the best to use her Athletic abilities.
When she was only 18 she had become a standing player in the Kenyan volleyball national team. In 2006 she played to the Kenya Pipeline, the club having the record of winning the African Club Championship title.
“After graduation I had a job of officer at Kenya Prisons and I decided at that time to leave Pipeline to represent Prisons where I work. It wasn’t an easy decision because Pipeline was the biggest Kenyan club and also the best in Africa but I had to start a new challenge in Prisons team in 2007.”
It was only a year later when prisons won the African Club Championship in Cairo in 2008 taking over the giants Al Ahly of Egypt and Mouloudia of Algeria.
Wacu led again her club to win the African Club Championship 4 consecutive times in Mauritius 2010 Kenya 2011 and 2012 and then Madagascar 2013 raising their record to five cups in six years. She represented Africa three times at the FIVB Club World Champs in Qatar and now ready for the fourth in Switzerland.
Again with the national team Wacu led Kenya to retain the gold medals of the 2011 African Nations Championship to improve her CV when she led the Kenyans also at the 2011 World Cup in Japan.
“Now I’m looking forwards for a new era when we play in the Club World Championship for the fourth time. It will be a good occasion to play at this world level with better experience gained for the previous participations.”
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