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Judith Barasa: An athlete fuelled by passion for volleyball

Judith Barasa a world qualified volleyball referee.

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA/MTAA WANGU

By  PURITY KINUTHIA

Correspondent

Mtaa Wangu

Her journey began in St Mary’s primary school in Nakuru as a volleyball player in 1996. From here, her career grew from a junior player to a globally recognised volleyball referee.

Judith Barasa, says her story is one of resilience and pushing to reach the highest cadre in the sports arena as a referee.

A month ago, she was accorded a “Grade C” Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) referees after excelling in her 11-day course in the FIVB Volleyball Referees Course in Sofia Bulgaria, during the FIVB U17 Boys World Championship.

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Looking back, she says this achievement is a huge milestone in her career, noting that she is quite elated that her long service in volleyball has earned her a place in officiating volleyball in the Olympics games, among other world tournaments.

“Between 1996 and 2005, I was actively involved in volleyball in primary school all through to high school and afterwards played for Nakuru county in the Kimsca games now referred to as Kicosca games,” she says as she recalls how she started off as a volleyball player before pivoting to refereeing.

As fate would have it, an unfortunate incident on the pitch in 2005 forced her out of the pitch after getting a knee injury, keeping her out of active volleyball for two years.

 “I went in for a surgery hoping that things would turn out okay after the operation. However, I was placed on bed rest to nurse my injuries ending my career as a player. Two years on, I decided to come back in the sport as a coach and referee,” she notes.

Speaking on how she progressed her career as a referee, Ms. Barasa says she took her level one course in 2007 to be a volleyball coach before pivoting to referring.

Later on in 2009, she went for level two course and in 2014 she was named a continental referee in Africa.

Before being accredited as a world qualified referee, Ms Barasa says she had served as a continental referee where she officiated club championships, in Tunisia and Cairo.

More to it, she currently serves as a coordinator in the Kenya university games Nairobi conference, where she has been officiating varsity games for 14 years while also supporting the para volleyball team in Nakuru as a team manager.