Feature: Kenyan dentist remains only one to have captained national teams
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E-mail Xinhua, August 21, 2013
Most of us are ordinary people with ordinary abilities -- both physical and mental.
But there are others who fascinate and intrigue the rest of us by their capacity to stretch themselves beyond normal limits. Joseph Jesse Masiga is one such personality.
By the age of 19, this phenomenal athlete, while in sixth form at the prestigious Nairobi School, lay claim to the captainship of the school hockey, rugby and football teams - a gargantuan feat hitherto unheard of even in a school renowned for its prodigious output of sports talent.
One might say that "JJ", as he is still popularly known, was endowed with a genetic structure comparable only to that of the top athletes in the sporting world.
And whilst grueling conditioning and good coaching helped chisel his six foot frame into the fine-tuned goal-scoring machine he was in his prime, it is the sheer ease with which he seemed to annihilate his opponents that contributed to his fearsome image on the pitch.
Masiga remains one of only a handful of phenomenal athletes to have performed the mean feat of representing his country in more than one sporting discipline.
His fiery reputation as a striker per excellence for the then Abaluyia Football Club (present day AFC Leopards) put aside, he also played active club rugby for the University of Nairobi side; Mean Machine and later Impala Club.
He was founder member of the renowned Watembezi seven-a-side rugby team that sired the present national sevens side which finished 4th overall during this year's IRB World Cup that was held in Moscow.
As if this was not enough, Masiga also captained the rugby national team that played at the 1982 Dubai Sevens where he was voted the tournament's most valuable player (MVP).
He wasn't done yet, and another notch in his lustrous career as an athlete was the captaincy of the Abaluyia Fotball Club and later on between 1984 and 1985 he also captained Kenya's national team; Harambee Stars.
Earlier on, he very nearly captained the university rugby side but turned down the position to concentrate on club football.
"My best ever triumph on the pitch was the year 1976, where under my Nairobi School captaincy, we beat bitter arch-rivals Lenana School at a hotly contested match in their home ground," JJ told Xinhua in an interview.
In 1985, Masiga tore the ligaments of his left knee signaling the end of top-flight sports for this career sportsman.
However, this was not before he was approached by several reputable international sides offering lucrative deals in an attempt to woo him into the professional ranks.
Prudently though, the dentistry student opted to put his education above the spoils of a professional career and indeed it paid off when in 1987, three years after his injury he got a chance to pursue a post-graduate degree in England.
And so ended the sporting career of a sportsman who warmed his way into the heart of the nation, wooing a legion of fans with his deft footwork and dazzling speed, to emerge as perhaps one of the best sportsmen Kenya has ever witnessed.
Masiga is still involved in sports and is active on the squash circuit which he uses to unwind at Impala Club in Nairobi.
Asked to describe his career in a nutshell, JJ takes a minimalist approach saying, "I gave my best."
He would like to see the youth take a more active role in sports but is quick to add that they must never lose out on education in the name of sport, because he says, "the two can go hand-in-hand."
Masiga remains the only player in Kenya to have scored against Nigerian national side, Super Eagles, while playing away - a feat that dates back 28 years ago to 1985 when Harambee Stars lost 3-1 during a continental fixture.
"Playing away to Nigeria can be very intimidating." Enditem
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