Kenya National Under 18 Football player Aldrine Kibet has revealed that he hopes to become the first Kenyan player to feature in the Spanish team Barcelona which plays in the Spanish La Liga.
Kibet who is already on the path of realizing his dream after joining the Nastic Football Academy in Tarragona, Spain, revealed his ambitions while speaking in an interview during a training session.
The former St Antony’s Kitale High School player shared his training experience at the academy, highlighting details such as combining both education and talent at the academy.
He joined the Nastic Football Academy in September of 2023.
“You wake up in the morning go for breakfast. At exactly 8:00 you have training which is for technical capability where they teach you normal things as a footballer. So, we train until 9:30 then you have time to go shower and prepare for class,” he revealed.
According to him, the classroom sessions start at 10:00am continuing up to 2:30pm followed by a span of about an hour for lunch.
He further revealed that it is from around 3:30pm up to late in the night that the teams are arranged according to the time they’re going to train.
The night training sessions are made possible by the flood lights installed across the training pitches in the academy.
Kibet on his ambitions
Kibet further told the press that he is already working towards becoming a professional footballer in Spain.
His base in Tarragona which is one of the regions in Spain that grows a lot of grapes for wine production, is just a short distance from Barcelona in Catalonia.
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Within the short period he has been in the country, he has played a few friendly matches against various teams from Spain and across the borders.
This has fueled his dream of playing for his dream club which he revealed began when he watched them play as a young boy.
“It has always been my dream since I was young. I look up to them, they played good football, the Guardiola football Tiki Taka. So, my dream is not to go to watch Barcelona I have to go play there,” said Kibet.
The gifted player led St Antony’s Boys Kitale into lifting the National High School Football title in 2023 and was named as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the school’s Championship.
Aldrine was also voted as the First Runners up in the most promising boys’ category of the sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) on March 1, 2024.
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According to Kibet, his journey to the top has not been easy but only sheer determination saw him through up to where he is.
“I got rejected twice but I managed to join St Antony boys, so from there it was another challenge to get to play for the first team,” he revealed.
Nastic Academy
The midfielder added that he can’t wait to turn 18 and hopefully sign a professional contract which will ensure that his career as a professional footballer finally takes off.
Besides from Kibet, Kenya National Under 20 Football team captain Amos Wanjala is also part of Nastic Academy.
He has been snapped up in the under 19 team where he has a professional contract.
In addition, there are over 20 Kenyan players at the academy who arrived at different times.
