Victor Electric Ochieng recently participated in the Afro Basket qualifiers in Yaunde, Cameroon, where he was in the team representing Kenya in the basketball tournament. The team successfully beat African giants Angola in their second game to qualify for the first time in 28 years to duel in the Afro Basket tournament to be held later this year in Rwanda.
35 year-old, 6ft Electric Ochieng is a veteran player who plays locally. He plays for the Equity Dumas in the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Premier League and was one of only two locally based players who made the 12-man squad to Yaoundé, Cameroon.
When asked where his nick-name Electric was derived from, Victor laughs out and says, “That name was given to me when I was a rookie starting out in 2008 by my coach in The Lions team because of my body size. People were impressed by my speed and that name has stuck since then.” he states. He modeled his game around fellow shooting guard retired Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade who similarly is known as The Flash due to his speed.
Victor, who grew up in Mombasa, only started playing basketball when he was in high school. He describes his first encounter with the game he loves as something straight out of a movie script. “I was in Form 2 just strolling around school when the basketball made its way out and bounced off my leg from the court. I was prompted by the players in the court to throw it back to them. They goaded me to join them though I had never played before. I soon discovered that I had a knack for it,” Victor says.
After a couple of seasons, he switched teams to Kenya Ports Authority where he was part of the team that helped them to win two Premier League titles. During this period, Victor had established himself as one of the elite two-way players in the league. “Zadock Adika, the Equity Dumas Team Manager noticed my game and approached me to join the Equity Dumas to add some veteran steel to the young core in Equity ranks. I accepted the challenge and in 2019 switched to Equity” he states.
The 2020 season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic and he hopes to atone for the loss in the 2021 season which starts in March. “2020 was difficult year for the sports fraternity because there were no games to play. I had to take up jogging and self-training indoors to keep up my fitness up because even though the league had been called off, I knew that at the end of the year there were national team games to be played,” Victor stated.
Victor currently works in the finance department at Jamii Telkom, specializing in credit control where incidentally he encounters Equity. “I am responsible for platinum finance and through that I handle the Equity Bank account where I do a lot of reconciliation on the internet sites that we put up for the Bank,” he says.
He attributes his improved skills to the opportunity to play for national team. “We play against players who ply their trade mostly in Europe. This has added an edge to my game. I hope to bring that experience to help turn Equity Dumas into a juggernaut on the domestic front”. Victor is grateful to his coaches Coach Carey T9 Odhiambo of the Equity Dumas and Coach Liz Mills of the Kenya Morans for molding his game.
Victor goes ahead and applauds Equity is doing supporting sports, especially basketball, commenting, “The bank is supporting two teams who are in the top tier in the Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League, Equity Dumas, the men’s team and Equity Hawks the ladies’ team. When you look at the squads of both teams, you realize about 30 young men and women are being supported to showcase their talent through Equity Bank.”