Brian Okello (centre) of Ulinzi Stars shields the ball from Baraka Ebage and Eric Zakayo (right) of Kenya Police FC during their SportPesa League match at Kenya Police Sacco Stadium in Nairobi on October 01, 2025.
What would you do with Sh300,000? For Kenya Police FC the amount is roughly what they spend in a season to facilitate ice bath recovery for their players after competing in gruelling league matches.
The reigning FKF Premier League champions spend Sh8,000 on ice blocks per match.
The club purchases ice blocks of various sizes which their physiotherapist Horace Okoth immerses in two blue industrial plastic drums filled with water.
The ice blocks, according to Okoth, chill the water in the drums to a temperature of minus 15 degrees Celsius, a thermometer reading that creates a Siberian winter in subtropical Nairobi.
Kenya Police FC physiotherapist Horace Okoth after their match against Ulinzi Stars at Kenya Police Sacco Stadium in Nairobi October 01, 2025.
Once the ice blocks have created a floating layer on the surface of the water to Okoth’s satisfaction, he makes the dreaded call to the players, inviting them for a two-minute plunge into the icy world.
The players immerse themselves in the drums in turns.
They strip to their boxers and some of them start shivering even before they get into the drums, leaving only their heads exposed.
Okoth supervises the exercise with the strictness of a Primary School headmaster.
“If I do not supervise them, some of them will get out of the drum before two minutes are up,” Okoth told Nation Sport in an exclusive interview after Police’s 0-0 draw with Ulinzi Stars in their opening match of the SportPesa League season at the Police Sacco Stadium on Wednesday.
Okoth credits the ice bath – which he labelled “improvised cryotherapy” – for facilitating the quick recovery of the club’s players after featuring in physically demanding matches.
“This has been our norm since we earned promotion to the top flight in 2021,” Okoth said.
Ice bath recovery
“Ice bath recovery helps the players to recuperate quickly from knocks and inflammation of muscles that they suffer while playing matches. This exercise helps us to manage injuries,” he added.
Only squad members who played in the match take part in the mandatory recovery process that Okoth says is conducted one hour after a match has ended.
Leonlenvitt Osiago (left) of Ulinzi Stars tussles for the ball with Tobias Otieno of Kenya Police during their SportPesa League match at Kenya Police Sacco Stadium in Nairobi on October 01, 2025.
“At times we do it the following day if time is a challenge. Players cannot run away from it. We must do it. We also do it three times a week after training sessions, particularly those which the coach designed to be strenuous,” Okoth shared.
He says they use the industrial drums for the ice bath recovery because they are portable.
“We even carry them to away matches,” he says.
Before the club travels for the matches, Okoth said, enquiries are made with hotels on whether they have functioning freezers which they can use.
“If the hotel cannot provide a freezer, we make alternative arrangements with local suppliers for provision of ice blocks,” Okoth said.
While Okoth disclosed that most players dread immersing their bodies in freezing water, Kenya Police and Harambee Stars defender Daniel Sakari relishes the exercise with the enthusiasm of a polar bear.
“The ice bath recovery helps with cooling down muscle inflammation. It makes me recover well after matches and I have practised it for a long time. It helped us win the league last season,” he said.
The use of the ice bath recovery process is not unique to just the Kenya Police, going by content shared by various top flight clubs on their social media feeds.
There are photos and videos dating 2019 of Sofapaka players immersing themselves in metal tubs filled with water that have ice blocks floating on the surface.
For AFC Leopards and KCB, the recovery process is done communally. The two clubs use inflated pools in which all players immerse themselves.
If anything, the Kenyan top flight footballer is more chilled than ever and every shiver has the potential of sending them trembling to glory.
