Lots to be done in local netball

KAMPALA. The engine of the weather-beaten minibus stuttered to life. The brake lights went off and in an instant it set off. The tri-coloured flag fluttering in the breeze showed that the rickety bus was carrying a national team. This national team wasn’t making a short trip to the airport.
It was commencing an odyssey that would eat into makeshift mud roads of Uganda and Tanzania before settling in Malawi where the 2013 Africa Netball Championship was set to take place. The goal attack Rachael Nanyonga recalls legs of most players swelling. Some, she adds, fell sick.
The stopovers at custom houses dotting the three different borders didn’t help matters, wing attack Ruth Meeme chips in. Yet the national netball team players would amazingly hop off the bus and beat Namibia in their first match. A third place finish in the tournament behind Malawi and South Africa -- in that order -- fell just short of securing them a berth at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. There were, however, few complaints.
The first goal of getting Uganda a global ranking by figuring in the continental championship had been achieved. Later that year, the She Cranes -- as the national netball team is popularly known -- travelled to Singapore by air to feature in the Nations Cup. The team missed the first match in the six-nation event because funds for air tickets had taken awhile to trickle in. This didn’t stop them from lording over the five other nations on the field of play. A 54-41 win over Ireland after a 10-hour flight pretty much set the tone. While the powers that be in Uganda have always paid no heed to the call of compassion and common decency, She Cranes players have always gone about their job diligently.
The team has what it’s goal defender and goalkeeper Alice Nanteza chooses to call determination. Triumphing over the odds is the banality of She Cranes’ everyday life. Lack of funding has asphyxiated Uganda Netball Federation’s operations. Operating on a shoestring budget and with the odds stacked against them, She Cranes players have weighed in with their fair share of monumental attempts. These attempts have seen the players’ stories written in the stars.
The latest of those Cinderella stories arrived a few days back when Uganda went into the World Cup ranked 14th and took a quantum leap into the top eight.
Pre World Cup, a simmering suspicion of the team making up the numbers was written deep into the minds of many Ugandans who are averse to all things netball.
Many of them were quick to jump onto the bandwagon after She Cranes procured tidy wins over Zambia and Fiji.
It was in all honesty business as usual for She Cranes after another turbulent buildup to a big tournament. Trust between the National Council of Sports (NCS) and Uganda Netball Federation (UNF) has been a fragile commodity even at the best of times.
It certainly hang on a knife edge when UNF toyed with the idea of holding a car wash to raise money to shore up its World Cup preparations.

Trivialities
Earlier UNF had been stunned when NCS pointed it away from the Lugogo Arena and to Mandela National Stadium’s tartan track. UNF had desperately wanted the She Cranes to train indoors because such conditions would be akin to the ones that awaited them in Sydney, Australia where the 14th staging of the World Cup took place.
NCS failed to guarantee this, and it was left to GEMS Cambridge International School to save the day. It wasn’t just the intransigence of NCS and UNF that was sparking some doubt about She Cranes’ preparedness. The whole buildup to the World Cup was bristled with difficulties and trivialities. UNF showed just how it was straining to be unpopular when it broke ranks with longtime She Cranes coach, Fred Mugerwa. A former basketball player, Mugerwa had showed a mastery of a game he never played. UNF said his passion had landed him into problems.
Susan Anek, the UNF president, was quick to tell all and sundry that sending Mugerwa (who was given a settlement of just Shs1.4m) on gardening leave was down to extraneous pressure. Many took her narrative with a pinch of salt.
They expected things to go south with She Cranes being knocked out of their stride. While this didn’t happen, it doesn’t mean that things are prim and proper. A little soul searching would do Ugandan netball a world of good. It’s comparative advantage means there should be a groundswell of government support.
UNF officials should also be more proactive and rid themselves of the kamikaze streak that the World Cup build-up brought out (taking 11 officials to the tournament! Who does that!).

[email protected], @robertmadoi