A football academy is part of a football club set up to develop footballing talent. It is like a training school. This is where students learn football. In developed countries, football academies are developed by leading clubs so that they could identify and nurture talented players from such a tender age as eight.
There are a number of international football academies such as Wadi Degla Arsenal Football Academy, Liverpool International Football Academy, and Lancashire International Football Academy among others.
These international football academies identify, select and fully nurture talents in sports among the young people. They are specifically and strictly concerned with developing talents. Children in these academies grow up knowing their talent, what they want in life and what they should exactly work on to achieve whatever they want. They are also well developed in terms of equipment and are rich in talent.
What about the football academies in Kenya? Despite the fact that Kenya is a land of intense beauty, epic landscapes, fascinating tribes as well as exuberant communities, football is always considered a non-issue when it comes to local talent. First, football in Kenya is considered as part of leisure and not a profession. There is no parent in Kenya who would allow their children to pursue football as a career, as a calling and as a profession. Many talents, therefore, go unutilized, unnoticed and unrealized.
Little attention is given to developing talent in Kenya. This explains why there are no football academies in Kenya. What exists are football clubs whose players did not go to any football academy but only somehow realized that they could play while in school, either primary or secondary. The few academies that are saying to exist are not even known because of poor funding, mismanagement, inadequate talent and the negative attitude towards footballing as a profession compared to classwork.
But there is hope now. The coming of Wadi Degla Club in Kenya is going to turn tables around and soon, football, as well as other games will not be the same in Kenya and in East Africa in general.