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Written by Kevin Ngala Jilani | 
Many parents have in the recent past been keen on maximizing their children’s concentration on school work so that they can have a better future. As a result, children are now reading more and more books so as to enhance their chances of success in life. But as a parent, has it occurred to you that a talent could be a good career for your child? Many children have been denied the chance to discover their talents early and even fail to know their strong points. Most of them have been tuned to the fact that in books, lie their future and as a result, they’ve been forced to forget about the gold they are sitting on – their talents.
But for Brian, standing tall to make sure that he achieves something from what God gave him as a talent is a must. He is only 13-years-old and a form one student at Lukenya High school but is currently building a strong foundation of what could likely brighten his future in the next few years. Strongly attached to football, Brian has made sure that he is doing his level best to keep the fire burning in his quest to achieve his dream of being a celebrated footballer in the country. Brian who has in recent days toured different parts of the country and even out of the continent has never ceased to amaze many with his clever football tactics and dribbling techniques that have raised eyebrows and surprised many.
Education Insight paid a visit to Brian’s home in Valley View estate along Mombasa road where we found his parents: Geoffrey Munyoki and Josephine Mumbua who comprehensively narrated to us the ups and downs of their youngster’s journey of being a football superstar.
With evident pride, Josephine Munyoki began by explaining how this so called talent has given her sleepless nights with her greatest concern being that her son’s academic performance was suffering. “It all started when he was in class six,” she says. “They had an inter-school tournament which involved schools from Nairobi province and this was the beginning of everything as it was from then on that Brian was chosen to represent his school by his school coach Makundi who had discovered his potential in football. She continues by recalling the pressures she faced from Brian’s relatives who came to her pleading for support to nurture Brian’s talent but she refused since she wanted her child to concentrate only on his studies. “I remember one day Brian came home with a letter that he had been selected to join the under 13 Ujuzi football academy. Believe you me I was about to tear that letter, thank God his father convinced me that we should give him a chance to nurture his talent.
This was the beginning of a big problem since Brian used to give football more concentration to the peril of his studies.” “This made us uneasy,” recalls Brian’s mother, “We had to tell him that he should give attention to his studies and play football on his own free time.” “Talents are God given gifts and when we refine them, what we get in return is a gift back to the Almighty. Yes, I do encourage nurturing young talents,“ says Brian’s father, “but at the same time, a child should know that education is very important. This leaves us parents with a very big role of creating balance between education and the nurturing of talent.“ “For our case, we’ve made things work by creating play time and study time,” says Brain’s mother, “This is because we know how hard it is to move a child from a playing field to do his or her homework. A child moved from playing will never concentrate on his studies since his mind will be glued to the play field.”
Brian’s dream is to be a professional player and what has encouraged him is the fact that football has proved to be a well paying job.” I don’t deny that football pays”, says Brian’s mother “What people fail to understand is that many of those footballers have gone to school and others are pursuing degrees in different fields apart from sport. It’s not that I am against him, I totally support him. I have gone to an extent of buying very expensive games kits for him and anything he needs in sports, but my greatest concern is for his school performance. Of late, we’ve been a bit successful in convincing him that education is very important and we are glad that he’s trying to balance the two. “Nurturing a talent alongside education can be challenging sometimes” says Brian’s father, “Personally I believe that Brian is still young and there is ample time for him to nurture his talent. For now, the best thing is to help him balance football and his studies. We even had to cancel some of his trips abroad such us that of Portugal some few weeks after he had come back from Sweden. This was all about making him concentrate and helping him achieve his dream of being a pilot in future.”
Brian greatly envies McDonald Mariga the Kenyan star playing for Italian side InterMilan, and Wayne Rooney of Manchester United though he is a great fan of Arsenal football club.
“My advice to all parents out there is, give your children a chance to nurture their talents be it singing, dancing, acting, playing different
games, etc. because talent has proved to be a very good source of employment,” says Brian’s mother, “But also make sure that your children balance well their study time and talent nurturing which should be during their free time.”
By Kelvin Ngala Jilani
Email: kelvinjilani(at)yahoo.com
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