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Men’s Netball: The Rock ready for unfamiliar foes at International meet
Rock Solid? The men’s national netball team during training at Kampala University as they prepare for the Africa Men’s Netball Championship in South Africa from September 14, 2021. Photo | Ismail Kezaala
What you need to know:
- Among the eight competitors, Ugandan players are familiar with those from Kenya whom they have faced at the East African Club Championships and Mapinduzi Cup.
The Uganda national men’s netball team, The Rock start their International Men’s Netball Championship quest against Zimbabwe and hosts South Africa on September 14 - 18.
Uganda will be making it’s first international appearance since 2008 when the U-21 team participated in the U-21 championship in Nairobi Kenya.
Among the eight competitors, Ugandan players are familiar with those from Kenya whom they have faced at the East African Club Championships and Mapinduzi Cup.
“Most of them are new opponents but I believe they are similar to us in terms of experience. However we should not forget that our aim is becoming the African champions and we have trained well for that,” said coach Vincent Kiwanuka.
“We expect a tough contest from Kenya who have tall players and South Africa whose team has participated in more competitions than us. However, we have trained well enough and hope to win against those opponents,” he added.
The Rock consists of mostly coaches and umpires from different local clubs.
The team looks promising and has been training for the tournament at Kampala University, Ggaba for two weeks, expecting to set off for South Africa on Saturday.
Others on the team are Kampala University players who won the East African Netball Club Championships in 2019 as well as the national league the same year and he expects them to carry on the same vigour at the continental championships.
These players include team captain Nourdine Kato, also a coach at Ngando Senior Secondary School, Jesse Asiimwe, a coach at Makindye Weyonje and Buddo Secondary School, Wilberforce Muzahura and Andrew Wasswa from UPDF among others.
