Kenyan hockey has produced celebrated players, memorable teams and international moments, but behind many of those success stories stands a coach whose influence has stretched far beyond the touchline.
Kevin Lugalia has spent two decades turning young hockey players into champions — and, just as importantly, into professionals, university graduates and national-team players.
His journey began humbly. As a student at Musingu High School in the late 1990s, Lugalia initially tried football but soon returned to hockey, the sport he understood best. At Moi University, he became both player and coach, eventually graduating in 2005. His relationship with hockey was already becoming less about personal achievement and more about building something for others.
In 2006, Lugalia took charge of St Anthony’s Boys High School in Kitale. He was initially a Board of Management teacher rather than a TSC employee at the school, but that did not stop him from building what would become one of Kenya and East Africa’s great school hockey programmes.
The results were extraordinary.
St Anthony’s developed into a national powerhouse, winning multiple Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association titles and dominating the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association championships. By 2018, the Kitale school had won its sixth East African title, cementing its status as the region’s most successful boys’ hockey side.
But Lugalia’s definition of success has never been confined to medals.
He has repeatedly spoken about the satisfaction of seeing former players enter universities, become doctors, engineers and accountants, while others continue into professional hockey and the national team.
That philosophy has also shaped his work with Kenya’s youth teams.
Lugalia has been part of the national junior setup since 2010, coaching at Olympic qualification tournaments and helping pioneer Kenya’s Hockey5s programme. In 2018, he was part of the technical team that guided Kenya’s boys’ Hockey5s side to qualify for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. He later served as assistant coach of Kenya’s senior men’s Hockey5s team at the inaugural FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Oman in 2024.
His work continues.
In 2026, Lugalia guided Kenya’s Under-18 boys to qualification for the inaugural FIH Youth Hockey5s World Cup after the African championship, another indication that his influence remains firmly rooted in the next generation.
At St Anthony’s, meanwhile, he is still winning. The school reclaimed the national title in April 2026, defeating Friends School Kamusinga on penalties, with Lugalia crediting an aggressive attacking approach.
His story is therefore bigger than trophies.
It is about consistency, discipline and a willingness to invest in young people long before they become stars.
For Kenyan hockey, Lugalia represents something increasingly rare: a coach who has built a legacy not by chasing the spotlight, but by repeatedly producing the people who eventually step into it.
