[3] The two grew up in the Mathare slums of Nairobi, where they began playing football after their older brother introduced them to the sport.
[3] However, Akinyi eventually switched to goalkeeper because "the coach would always pick Sharon ahead of [her]".
[3] They also played for True Colours FC in the Mathare Youth Sports Association.
[4] At the age of 14, Akinyi and her sister featured for Mathare United in the Kenyan Women's Premier League (KWPL).
This biographical article related to women's association football in Kenya is a stub.