Young Shanel looks beyond East Africa school games glory with St Joseph’s Kitale

When Shanel Helida Osio first picked up a hockey stick as a Class Five pupil in 2019 at Ratta Primary School in Kisumu County, she was only 10 and had no idea that the game would carry her from her village in Seme to the continental stage.

Today, the 17-year-old, fondly known as Shan, is one of the most decorated secondary school hockey players in the country.

She captained St Joseph’s Girls High School, Kitale to back-to-back titles in the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association (FEASSSA) games which concluded on August 23 in Morogoro, Tanzania and was named the Most Valuable Player in the tournament. Born in December 2008 in Seme Sub-County, Shanel is the first-born child Ms Judith Osio and Alfred Sungu who are subsistence farmers in Seme, where she was raised by her aunt.

For her, sports runs in the family. Her mother, aunts and uncles all played football, and she was expected to follow the same path. But she is slowly but consistently writing her own story as one of the most decorated young hockey players, both for her school and the country.

Being the first born, pressure to set a good example for her siblings was always there.

“I first had an interest in netball but I did not do very well in the sport, and the dream collapsed,” she says, laughing. “I later took up  hockey, and I have not looked back eight years later,” she adds.

Her turning point came when Tunza Sports Academy introduced hockey to Ratta Primary School in 2019. For many pupils, it was a strange game. For Shanel, it was love at first touch. Under the tutelage of coach Rachel Knight of Tunza Academy, she learned the basics - how to grip, tackle,  and see the game as a defender.

Her big break came at the Kisumu Simba Club during a local tournament. Among hundreds of children, scouts spotted a dedicated player who never stopped running.

“I believe I'm a very dedicated player and that's why I was chosen,” she says.

That dedication earned her a scholarship to St Joseph’s Girls Senior School, Kitale - a national powerhouse in girls’ hockey. Under current coach John Lusaka, Shan has blossomed into  a key player for the team.

Her first competitive match outside Kisumu came in Mombasa in 2021, when she was still in Class Seven. Her team won. It was a sign of things to come.

In Kitale, she grew from a promising player into a leader. In 2025, her school team, popularly known as “JOGA” honoured her with a trophy for being the best captain after she led the school to win the East Africa title in Kakamega. The school had won a maiden regional title in 2024 in Mbale,Uganda. This year, she led her team to success in Tanzania, where she also emerged the tournament’s MVP.

This year, she led her school to beat Nyamira Girls 2-1 and win the national championship in Kisumu in April, and national team selectors took note. She was called up to the Kenya Under-18 team for the Youth Africa Cup. As captain, she marshalled the defence as Kenya finished second in Africa and qualified for the World Cup.

Role model

At just 17, Shan already plays like a veteran. As a defender, she is calm, reads the game well and makes well-timed tackles. She is following in the footsteps of her role model, Maureen Okumu who plays for Blazers in the Kenya Hockey Union women’s league, and the national team.

Behind the medals is a grounded first born whose support system remains her family. Despite living with her aunt during her formative years, she says her parents have been her biggest supporters.

Away from the turf, Shan helps run her mother’s small business in Seme in her free time, a responsibility she embraces as the eldest child.

“My hope is to become one of the best defenders in Kenya and beyond,” she says.

From a Class Five pupil who failed at netball in Ratta to a double East African champion and World Cup-bound captain, Shanel looks destined for success.