From humble background, poverty; Ndigiti’s family can afford a meal
Long gone are the days when sports was taken lightly, when it was occasional for recreational purposes.
Sports has now become important in not only the social and cultural but also the economic discourse all over the world with sports personalities being among the most highly paid individuals.
This understanding and appreciation of sports and human development, poverty eradication amongst other positive impact of sports is shared by none other than former World U17 10,000m walk race bronze medalist and reigning Africa U20 10,000m walk race champion Dominic Samson Ndigiti.
Ndigiti could be only 19 years but the youngster has travelled far-and-wide while his peers have hardly gone beyond the borders of their village, Sensi location in Marani Sub-County, Kisii County, literally to say.
The national 10,000m walk race record holder (0:40:36) he achieved during the Athletics Kenya (AK) Track and Field events at Shanzu Teachers Training College, Mombasa in May 2019, has Kenya’s physical map at the blink of his eyes, having traversed all parts of the country, thanks to athletics.
Ndigiti has won in Kisii, his home county, in Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nyeri, Nairobi to mention but a few, in his time in school games’ competitions as well as national athletics championship.
In 2019, Ndigiti emerged Africa U20 10,000m walk race champion, the first gold medal for Kenya in the sport, achieving the fate during the 2019 Africa Under-20 championship in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 
Ndigiti toured Tampere Finland where he took part in the 2018 World U20 Championship and finished seventh but after being held back by a competitor who stepped on his shoes.
His stellar performances in 2018 and 2019 saw him feted the second best youngest and most promising boy of the year during the 2019 Sports Personality of the Year Award (SOYA), Kenya’s national sporting awards ceremony that recognises outstanding sportsmen and women performers in the country.
Born in a family of three (one sister, deceased) and being the last born, athletics has turned the youngster into a dependable figure, a bread winner of the family, not minding his tender age.
He has brought honour and respect to his family that was once looked down upon and despised because of abject poverty. Now the family can afford a nice meal thanks to his athletics exploits.
“The truth is, sometimes back, we were abandoned as a family. Nobody wanted to associate with us, leave alone invite us to ceremonies that used to happen in our neighborhood,”says Ndigiti.
This has changed everything in his village from being looked down upon to being looked up to.
“Things have changed though. Nowadays, we are respected not because we have done anything differently but because of my God-given talent,” he added.
“In fact, if I go to any place in our village nowadays, I am recognised, given a seat and accorded respect, something that we never expected before, God is wonderful,” he says.
Ndigiti is not only a looked up to in the family but is also a star in the village and a role model amongst his peers as well as the young and the old.
“Everybody is happy about me. When I pass by, you will hear murmurs of my name, though in slow tones,” he says.
“Many young athletes have approached me, eager to emulate what I do and it gives me immense satisfaction mentoring them as a give-back to society because I have also been mentored by many to get to where I am today and I am still under many mentors since I am young and I still have a lot to do and achieve in this sport,” he said.
“I usually encourage and tell the upcoming sportsmen and women to take athletics and other sports seriously because it is a life changing sport. Talents pays,” he says.
“Imagine you only race for seconds [100m as example], minutes or hours [marathon another example] and you are a world champion and a millionaire in that matter,” says Ndigiti emphasising on importance of sport.
