USSSA make case for cost sharing

The most intriguing question in school sports has been why Uganda Secondary School Sports Association (USSSA) that receives a Shs7b windfall from government still requires institutions to contribute to games.

USSSA president Justus Mugisha used a press briefing at their offices at Old Kampala held to inform the media about the upcoming Federation of East Africa Secondary School Sports Association (FEASSSA) Games and ISF (International School Sports Federation) Gymnasiade to explain.

“Cost sharing helps us give opportunities to many athletes to gain exposure,” Mugisha said, adding that the money they receive is for talent identification, FEASSSA Games and international competitions before he went through a string of examples.

“Football statistics show that for every 1,000 children given an opportunity to play, only one or two can forge a career in the sport.

“If we (USSSA) catered for everything for the upcoming Ball Games II (due July 9-17 at Teso College Aloet), we would have 500 participants but now we are looking at 11,000 students.

“Last year in Morocco (at the World Schools Championships), cost sharing enabled us to have Amus as our fourth team. Now, six of its former students are playing football in Europe. If we catered for everything, we would have taken one team.

That would also have been the case this year (at the schools football World Cup in China). We would have exposed just 20 students but we had over 60,” Mugisha said.

FEASSSA/ISF Games

Mugisha also shared that they would require Shs10b to fully take care of the 2024 FEASSSA Games due August 16-25 at Bukedea Comprehensive School and Amus College School in Bukedea with 3,500 athletes expected.

Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have confirmed participation in the FEASSSA Games but qualification continues with Ball Games II due to start. They will have netball, basketball, volleyball, handball, rugby 7s, 3x3 basketball and athletics while Seroma Christian High School, Mukono will host swimming on July 27.

After the national and regional competitions, USSSA will be looking at taking table tennis, tennis, badminton, chess, beach volleyball and 3x3 basketball teams to the October 23-31 ISF Gymnasiade in Bahrain. Again keeping to the cost sharing theme, USSSA expects to fund the teams’ kit, feeding, accommodation and allowances while the schools will take care of their air tickets.

“While we are looking at mass sports, we realize we cannot have it without numbers among technical officials. Due to our capacity building programmes, we have managed to take down the cost of officiating- 60 percent of the officials we had at the games had been trained by us.

“We have taken some of these to the international level and we plan to raise about 150,000 people trained in coaching, refereeing and umpiring, first aid, media, and now administration,” USSSA’s president emeritus Patrick Okanya, said.

Age cheating

Not all is rosy though, the USSSA Games in Masaka in April were marred by petitions informed by age cheating and use of non-bonafide students among others.

“We had a lot of confusion in Masaka but you have to allow it, to be able to clear it. Schools are complicated now. We used to use pass slips because usually by the time one sits P7, they are not yet into age cheating.

“Now we require the national ID and maybe licences from federations but when they possess varying information for one athlete, we consider the one that makes a child older,” Mugisha explained. 

USSSA Participation

ISF Basketball in Macao (ongoing): Elite High School (boys), Select side (girls)

ISF Gymnasiade (October 23-31): Kibuli (table tennis boys & girls, tennis boys, badminton girls), Nabisunsa (3x3 basketball), Rubaga Girls (badminton), Mbogo College (table tennis girls), Mbogo High (badminton girls), Mbogo Mixed (table tennis boys), Standard High School Zzana and Katikamu SDA (beach volleyball)