They are strong, they are fierce, and they are dreaded!
Like a Tsunami, they have swept all rivals to the sea, and are now on course to seal a fourth successive title.
Ladies and Gentlemen, who will stop the magnificent Absa Bank Kenya ladies' tug of war team that is literally on the rampage in the ongoing 39th edition of the Interbank Games in Nairobi?
Clinical team captain Christine Andenga has so far steered the flawless side to six victories in the tournament, beating Equity, Stanbic, Prime Bank, DTB, and CBK with a whopping 2-0 margin each.
Last evening (Monday), they were poised to tackle I&M Bank head-on, a match the skipper termed as a mincemeat to them.
While revealing the secret to their dominance in the sport, Andenga explained: "It's discipline and consistency. Players and teams cannot win anything without these two virtues.
"We do early preparations. We start our exercises in March, which becomes very intensive from June, while our opponents commence their preparations between June and July.
"We have sought the services of professional coaches from the General Service Unit (GSU), as you know, the GSU are the best in the tug of war game across the country, they even represent Kenya internationally in this sport.
"We have proper facilitation from our employer, who has a wellness culture that promotes sports. Our employer has categorised championships, like the one we are currently contesting, as part of the wellness program that all employees ought to embrace to ease tension from the demanding work environment.
Employees have also been subdivided into kayas or small tribes or houses at the workplace to keep track of each other and be accountable for each other's physical and mental well-being during this post-COVID-19 era.
Lastly, we have a rule in the team that only players who have attended 70 per cent of the practices are fielded in games. This has ensured that everyone is consistent with training to get better and better every day."
This season, the team opted to test their mettle a little further by joining the various tug of war leagues dotting the capital, and also to engage in various friendly matches each month, and the results have been tremendous, as most squad members have been seasoned with the thrilling outings.
“We have opted to diversify in the sport to add value to the players, and the fact that we are the Interbank Games defending champions, we had to be solid. I’m glad the leagues and friendlies have made us peerless," noted Andenga, who is also the Absa Bank Kenya athletics captain. She also features for the organisation in women's football in the ongoing bankers’ championships.
Ahead of this year's annual banking showpiece, Andenga said they worked on their skills and techniques to be perfect in all departments.
"Tug of war is a skill, not body mass. You need to know how to go down and come up very fast. It's such an involving game in which tactics keep changing all the time.
“It's a sport of mistakes, you have to master how to capitalise on your opponents' shortcomings. It's a game that keeps evolving, so you have to learn the skills and the tactics every other time, and this is why discipline and consistency in training really matter a lot in the game," Andenga explained.
Andenga admits they neither go to the gym nor follow any special diet or nutrition, but they do a lot of strength training to prepare for tournaments.
"We lift and dribble tyres, we carry people twice our size on our backs, we do 15 laps across the vast Absa Sports Club field, we do intensive lunges, squats, and hill climbs. After that we perfect our skills on the rope to master the various pulling techniques in the game," she highlighted.
In a typical week, Mondays are for their cardio training, Wednesdays and Fridays are for rope pulling techniques, while Saturdays are for hill climbs.
The team has had a few setbacks like 'poaching' of their best players by the rival institutions, but this has not dampened their spirits.
“We are grateful that we have laid a solid foundation in the discipline that ensures there are constant feeders to the final eight squad.
"Like the I&M Bank squad we were playing on Monday evening, 70 per cent of the athletes are our former players. Despite losing them to the opponents, this has not affected us in any way as we have Team A, B and C that provide a smooth transition to the final eight squad.
“We have sufficient backup as we currently have a total of 50 players who are so well committed to the cause.
“ The 'poaching' has not affected our tug of war squad, but our other teams currently battling in the ongoing competition have suffered a great deal," she underlined.
When asked for her general assessment of this year's opponents in the ongoing championships, Andenga admitted that their worthy rivals are the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) whom they dismantled in the group stages with a 2-0 win.
"We are confident to meet them again in the finals on September 20, where again we have planned to show them dust,” Andenga warned.
And how does she feel about Captain A Side of champions: "It looks and feels great. It's been a journey of growth, discipline and consistency for the last seven years. It has been a joy seeing this team grow from nothing into a formidable side that is now winning trophies.
“When we started, we didn't have a coach, and we would be in trouble if one member of the squad was absent. Right now, we have over 50 members who are all replaceable and very much committed to the cause," Andenga said.
