The junior golfers’ team to next month’s All Africa Junior Championships in Uganda have been warned to prepare themselves for a rigorous training regime to whip them in shape ahead of the continental showpiece.
Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) president Regina Gachora said the juniors, under the tutelage of John van Liefland and Alfred Nandwa, will have to bear with painful moments as they are refined by fire ahead of the week-long competition at Lake Victoria Serena Golf Resort and Spa on April 15-21.
“The second thing is that the coach (van Liefland) has spoken to all the juniors and told them that the honeymoon is over and that they will get into serious training from now henceforth. Fortunately, for the juniors, they played on Muthaiga Golf Course, which is a championship course that is very similar to Lake Victoria in that there is a lot of water,” Gachora said.
The seven-golfer team includes Lee Kimathi, Kris Shah, Junaid Manji and Mikael Kihara representing the boys’ team whereas the girls include Belinda Wanjiru, Chanelle Wangari and Audrey Gachora.
Both sets of teams were selected over the weekend in the aftermath of the Muthaiga Open championships at the Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi.
Kimathi played the best score among the juniors with an aggregate of 235 gross while Wangari led the girls with a score of 239 gross.
Gachora expressed her satisfaction with the level of competition at the tournament, pointing out that the selected team members can become even better with a fortnight of training.
“His training (van Liefland) is going to be very tough…more or less like a boot camp. I see good results coming out of it…I have already seen good results from the competition we had in Muthaiga. I believe they can perform even better than they did in Muthaiga. I can see podium finishes in Uganda,” she said.
Gachora appreciated the schools for granting leave to the juniors especially on the first day of the tournament and the training sessions, and Muthaiga Golf Club for allowing the juniors to play in the tournament.
“We have written to the different schools asking them to be lenient with the golfers and to allow them train for the championships,” she revealed.
