Prime
Gators overwhelming favourites for USF Nationals
Paloma will be hard to beat. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
Silverfin Academy have tried to balance out their squad but there are not many competitive swimmers for them in the girls’ 11-12, 13-14 and the boys’ 15-16 age groups.
Apart from Tara Kisawuzi and Abdou Hakim Seck, Gators might not have another swimmer that will entirely dominate their age group at the June 27-30 USF (Uganda Swimming Federation) National Championships at Kampala Parents School, Naguru.
However, despite losing some swimmers in a split with new club Aqua Akii, coach Muzafaru Muwanguzi has not wavered from his tactics of large spread out squads. With his team of 87 swimmers making 769 individual entries and all 30 relays, he is set to complete a three-peat.
Among those 87, are athletes that will compete to top their races and age groups but they will face fierce competition from peers from other clubs.
“I have looked at the summary of entries and we have a 90 percent chance to win,” Muwanguzi said.
“But our focus is on the performance of each individual swimmer and then wholesomely as a team. We have been working on getting a balanced team and we are good to go in all age groups,” he added explaining their previous struggles in the 10 and under age group, especially.
“We have about 20 swimmers (in the 10 and under category), not elite swimmers but promising talents. And the fact that they can make relay teams shows we are making progress.”
As the year progressed through club-organized galas and the USF National League (Leg One and Two), Dolphins looked like the best bet to challenge the status quo.
But Dolphins have entered 56 athletes making 504 individual entries and 26 relays. A light Google search shows that a dolphin might swim around an alligator in deep water but if the pond is small then the former might turn into food for the latter.
Need of a third force
Therefore Dolphins cannot challenge Gators alone. The latter have 14 percent of the 601 athletes set to take part in the competition and the other 19 clubs share the remaining 86 percent.
The other challengers are not balanced enough. These can be grouped into two; relatively big squads that have been on the podium before like Aquatic Academy, Silverfin Academy and Altona. Or the teams with some exceptional athletes in two or three age groups like Jaguar and Sailfish that will have jaw-dropping performances but are not really sucked into the politics of numbers that require a side to get to the podium.
Aquatic have 356 entries from their 43 swimmers and could make the podium. But do not look strong enough in the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups to break into the top two. In fact their coach Latif Kajumbi is a big advocate for a national championship that considers medal performance over points.
Altona look strong in those but not as strong in the 15-16 and 17 and over age group. Coach Erick Kisero will challenge his swimmers for times and medals too rather than a podium finish.
Both Aquatic and Altona have hardly taken part in galas this year so some of their swimmers are a bit of an unknown quantity.
Silverfin Academy have tried to balance out their squad but there are not many competitive swimmers for them in the girls’ 11-12, 13-14 and the boys’ 15-16 age groups.
After Gators and Dolphins, Black Panthers have the most athletes with 51 but most of their competitive 407 entries come in the lower age groups of 10 and under plus 11-12. They have, however, entered 28 relays meaning they have swimmers in most of the age groups.
Predictions – Top 5
1. Gators
2. Dolphins
3. Aquatic
4. Altona
5. Sailfish
