USSSA prefer joint host bids for school games

Interested schools have until September 30 to submit bids for hosting the 2025 Uganda Secondary School Sports Association (USSSA) Games.

In fact, USSSA are entertaining bids for hosts of the next four editions of their Games.

“The Games are so big now and we are giving a chance to schools that do not have facilities but believe they can have them in say 2027 to also bid,” USSSA president Justus Mugisha told the press at a briefing last week at their offices in Old Kampala.

The call for standard facilities cannot be over emphasized now. The stakes are high in school games now and the fact that Ugandan students are now involved in competitions beyond the regional level, there is need to forge them in standard facilities.

Last year, Ugandan students took part in various World School Championships; volleyball in Belgrade Serbia with a contingent of 80, football in Dalian China (115), basketball in Macao China (38) and cross country (64). Some took part in continental competitions and others are set to take part in the ISF Gymnasiade in Bahrain next month.

Call for better facilities

That is why the work Bukedea Comprehensive School (stadium with a running track, a 25m swimming pool, and an indoor arena) and Amus College (five football pitches including one with astro-turf) did on facilities ahead of jointly hosting the Federation of East Africa Secondary School Association (Feasssa) Games in Bukedea last month was commendable. Uganda topped the Games for the fourth time in a row with 38 medals (13 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze).

Teso College Aloet is home to a stellar 25m swimming pool which is nearly under completion and also has beach volleyball and football grounds while the works on the Ndejje SS pitches and the Standard High School Zana – Ndejje Campus pitch were evident when they hosted the Fresh Dairy Games in April and May respectively.

“We encourage joint bids, where two or three or even four schools can come together to host the Games. We want bids that are endorsed by the district leaders like Mayors because these can offer any of the things that the schools are missing.

Or the RDCs (Resident District Commissioners) as these can assure us of security,” Mugisha added. The joint bids could also be of great help in terms of where the students reside as the numbers are soaring.

The Elite Games held in Jinja had 1,271 participants while the Fresh Dairy Games had 3,840 students. Boys’ football in Masaka had 1,653 participants while Ball Games II and Athletics in Soroti had 6,916 students while Ball Games II and Mind Games had 2,356 students while swimming at Seroma Christian High School, Mukono had 338.

Age limit

As USSSA continues to grow, there is a booming relationship with their primary school counterparts UPSSA, which hosts the U-12 and U-14 events. For that matter, the age group discussion gets even more pronounced amidst efforts to fight age cheating in their competitions.

“My advice to you (USSSA) is that we now introduce the lower age group categories. If you have U-12, U-14 and U-16, then the U-20 category should have a lower boundary as a boy of 19 should not be kicking a boy of 12,” Commissioner Physical Education and Sports in the Ministry of Education and Sports Rev. Canon Duncans Mugumya, said.

The other contentious issue is with transfers. The more the students are exposed in competition, the more they have peers, coaches and games masters’ from other schools trying to lure them to their schools. USSSA has put the period between January 1 and February 29 as the transfer window.

“A player can leave a school freely if he or she is not on bursary but one get a release from the school head teacher (of the school they are leaving) if they are on bursary,” Mugisha said, offering solutions to compensation of student athletes.

USSSA Games – Participants 2024

Elite Games – 1,271 participants

Fresh Dairy Games – 3,840

Boys’ football – 1,653

Ball Games II and Athletics – 6,916

Ball Games II and Mind Games – 2,356

Swimming – 338