UOC recruit 10,000 youth into Olympism
Weightlifter Charles Sekyaaya shows his power by easily carrying two scouts during the jamboore at Kaazi last week. PHOTO BY SANDE BASHAIJA
What you need to know:
Olympics. Participants at the Scouts Jamboore in Kaazi were introduced to Olympic sports
Kampala.
Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) used the just-concluded International Scouts Jamboore at Kaazi to recruit more youth into sports.
The jamboree, which climaxed last Friday, attracted about 15,000 participants from all over the world. UOC sent a team of trainers to camp at Kaazi and equip the youth with knowledge about Olympic sports.
“We reached at least 10,000 participants but it was shocking because the majority knew nothing about Ugandan sport and Olympics,” Uganda Gymnastics Association president Yudah Baluku, who led the UOC team, said.
“It is surprising that many kids don’t even know our very popular athletes like Stephen Kiprotich.”
Baluku and team taught the participants the basics in football, volleyball, basketball, weightlifting, boxing, athletics, archery, rugby, among others.
“Everyday we engaged them in a different thing including giving them a brief history of Olympism, the Olympic Movement and Olympic sports in Uganda,” he said. “While some of them might not get attracted to doing sports physically, we believe they will be good ambassadors of the Olympic Movement after here.
Olympic and Commonwealth Games weightlifter Charles Ssekyaaya ran a temporary museum at the camp, which had portraits and action pictures of all Uganda’s past and present Olympic heroes. The project followed a partnership UOC signed with the Uganda Scouts Association in May to promote sports among the youth.
