Swimming coaches anticipate tricky National Championship

KAMPALA.

Dolphins coach Muzafaru Muwanguzi and his Silverfin Academy opposite number Rosa Rodriguez believe this weekend’s DStv National Swimming Championship will be a tricky contest.

At least 13 clubs are expected to take part in the event, where each club is restricted to three entries per race by Uganda Swimming Federation (USF), starting today at Kampala International School of Uganda (Kisu), Bukoto.
“You do not go to every competition to win and that is likely to be the case for us here,” Muwanguzi said.

Rodriguez concurs; “USF makes the rules and in my opinion they are right on this one. But whoever has more swimmers and can field fresher swimmers in events will probably win it.”

Dolphins won this event in its open form in 2015 and pulled out last year because they could not chop their team to suit the new rules. Seals, who have a better balance in all age categories – based on results from the quarterly Seals League, won last year in a close contest with Silverfin.

Dolphins has also in recent years found itself to have a very strong base of young swimmers below 13 years and few, if any, athletes in the 15 years and over age category.

“An open entry event would have worked for us because in some races we are capable of entering over 15 good kids but the majority of them have to sit and watch.

“In such events if you do not have a balanced team with quality swimmers in each category, you cannot compete,” Muwanguzi said.
Silverfin will field over 40 swimmers but are paper weight in the girls’ 11-12 years and 13-14 age category.

“In our team we have limited numbers in the age categories. Basically when girls reach the 13, 14, 15 they start to do most sports less. That is what I have realized here,” the Filipino coach said.