Kalyango: Bombers coach aiming to conquer Gold Coast assignment

Two Ugandan boxers got bronze medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but the biggest boxing story from Glasgow was that our own coach Dick Katende (RIP) lacked the minimum certification to second his boys in the corner. He was side-lined as Kenyan and Nigerian counterparts helped him out.
Despite its shortcomings, Kenneth Gimugu’s administration at the Uganda Boxing Federation learnt its lesson. It ensured coaches attend Aiba courses here and abroad to avoid a recurrence of the Glasgow shame. Many are now Aiba certified Star One coaches, others are Star Two - eligible for international duties. One such beneficiary is Lawrence Kalyango, who is coaching the national team - the Bombers - at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

A deserved choice
Only seven of the 21 passed the Aiba Star One coaching course here in December 2015. Kalyango was among the lot that failed but in November last year, he retook the course in Khartoum, Sudan and returned a success. In January 2018, Kalyango and colleague Sam Kabugo attended another course in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and they are both certified Aiba Star Two coaches. No one doubts Kalyango’s coaching abilities. His youthful Cobap Boxing Club has competed favourably against traditional giants like UPDF, Lukanga, KBC, won some national honours especially in youth events. Meanwhile, Kalyango’s gifted hands have groomed notable boxers like former national captain Rogers Ssemitala, US-based professional Ismail Muwendo, 2017 African silver medallist David Ayiti, quarterfinalist Yusuf Babu, among others.
Kalyango, 36, says he has been in the national team fold for ten years [since 2007], understudying renowned national coaches like the deceased pair of Dick Katende and Musa Kent, Charles Lubulwa, Patrick Lihanda and Muhammad Hassan, with whom they inspired Uganda to gold and two silver medals at the Africa Championships in Congo-Brazzaville last year.
But amid the excitement and the ultramodern facilities the team is enjoying in Games Village, Kalyango—popular as Coach Lora—is anxious also pondering his first international duty. Vicky Byarugaba, an Olympian, former federation president and now the KCCA head coach, interrupted our poolside interview at Kavumba Recreation Centre, where the team camped a week before departure.
“Coach, you have a big task,” Byarugaba warned. Kalyango nodded in total admission. “It takes a lot being the coach, seconder [in the ring] and team manager. You have to attend all technical meetings.
“Watch what the boys eat; they can easily mess up their weight, or compromise their health.”
Byarugaba, who was in the same situation at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, warned that Australia is tricky. “Tell the boys not to mess with girls, they can easily fall into trouble.” He cited the Ugandan swimmer who was arrested for such. “Drugs are also common. They [the boxers] have to be careful.”
The message was well delivered.
“Surely, the nation has given me a huge task, but I’ll hope for the best,” the quietly spoken Kalyango told me. “I’ve told the boys we have to work as a team, otherwise it’s too much work alone.” At least the news reaching us is so far so good: the boys are up to the task, the cloudy Gold Coast weather no bother.

‘I know my boxers’
After the interview, Kalyango dived into the pool. Joshua Nyanzi, his former student at Cobap, now at KCCA BC, dared him for a race. But the coach just smiled. He just wanted to relax his body and mind before the sun set.
It’s such coach-athlete bond that turns average teams into conquerors. The boys like him. No wonder, amid the wrangles rocking Uganda’s boxing fraternity, like Dillian Whyte did Lucas Browne, the indiscriminate mudslinging going on, you hardly hear anything negative about Kalyango, the youngest among national coaches.
He is also confident. “I know my boys technically because I have watched them at all levels, I know their strength and weaknesses,” Kalyango said. And regarding character, “No one is hard if you know their likes and dislikes.”
He must also keep a keen eye on his boxers not to flee - 11 have fled to Europe since 2016. “Everyone is asking me about that but I really don’t know…I’ve never been to Australia.” Boxing being the biggest gatherer of Uganda’s Commonwealth medals, Kalyango’s team cannot escape the hefty expectations, no matter the little time they have prepared for duty. The coach is not specific on which medals they can win, but “Let’s go hunting. Whatever we catch will be worth it,” he said. He acknowledged that team captain Musa Shadir, a gifted full-of-life southpaw and David Kavuma Ssemuju have improved a lot. “But anyone can win a medal.”

No regrets coaching
Being a boxing coach in Uganda is largely voluntary work you would not recommend to your child for a career. But Kalyango has no regrets investing his time in nurturing youth talents into sweet science. Somehow he thinks he would have been a better boxer than the one who managed three Open semi-finals as an amateur. But training others has given him a “house, rentals in suburban Kampala and other property.”
While still a boxer Kalyango coached Central Academy to third place in the 2000 National Schools Championship before lifting the trophy with City SS following year.
Before being head coach of Cobap in 2003, he boasts being the first one to show Martin Mubiru the basics of throwing a jab and a left hook. A popular bantamweight, Mubiru, a regular on the national team, scooped bronze at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Kalyango is a proud father of 10 and husband to two wives. His dreams? “I want to upgrade into an Aiba Star Three coach, and I want to finally become a coaches’ instructor.” Well, the Gold Coast assignment is a major test.