Namanda grooms, nurtures volleyball and swimming stars

Hadijah Namanda has a laundry list of experiences. She is a fulltime employee at the Electoral Commission. She is the president of the Uganda Volleyball Federation (UVF). She is the proprietor of Tena Tennis Academy. She is the treasurer of the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) in East Africa and she is the manager of her two national prized swimmers; Kirabo Namutebi and Tendo Mukalazi.

A sporty background
The first born of seven children of the late Sawuya Naggayi and Abdu Ssenyondo of Masaka, Namanda was born on November 18, 1975. She started playing tennis when she was only eight years old. “Tennis was my first sport and during my days at Gayaza High School, I represented the school at several national championship tournaments,” Namanda says.
Her unrivalled passion for sports saw her actively engaging in tennis, badminton, swimming, athletics and volleyball.
For for three consecutive years between 1995 and 1998, she was the sports personality at Africa Hall, when she was at Makerere University. Today, she orchestrates her children’s local and international programmes that include travel, daily training and academics with excellence.
“I was a talented player,” Namanda says. Her active role in sports scaled her to leadership roles when she became the sports prefect. On top of lawn tennis, she ventured into table tennis and badminton.
Namanda’s love for sports can be attributed to her family’s active role in sports. Her mother was a netballer and her father was a cyclist. They both played tennis too.
Saudah Nabawesi, who represented Uganda at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, is also a member Namanda’s family.

Sauntering to the top
While Namanda started her journey in sports way back at Shimoni Demonstration School, after getting her highest ranking as the fourth best table tennis player in Uganda in 1996, and ninth in Africa, her career as an administrator is at an all-time high.
When she left Makerere University in 1998, where she was the minister of sports for Africa Hall (1996/97) and member of Games Union, she joined Kampala Amateur Volleyball Club. It took her only six months to join the team. Her goal as a novice, was to master digs, sets and movements. She had played with the Africa Hall team in 1997 with the likes of Justine Namaalwa and Lillian Mpabulungi, although it was less competitive.
She joined volleyball at a later stage and opted for coaching. In 2001, she completed the basic refereeing course and two years later, she obtained her Level I certificate. In 2010, she became an international referee and the first female volleyball referee in Sub-Saharan Africa.
When the Africa Club Championships were held in Libya in 2013, she was invited, making a solid footprint in Uganda’s sports industry.
In 2014, Namanda offic_iated at the tournament in Tunisia and between 2013 and 2016, she was serving as UVF vice president.
She had already been accepted by the African body and despite the positions, popularity and collaborations, she maintained a low profile.
But she expressed her disappointment on her rise in volleyball, a sport she joined late, yet tennis was on the decline. “I had excelled in tennis and it made me famous. It feels like my achievements in tennis are not credible.”
In 2016, when Namanda won the presidency of the UVF, there was limited exposure for junior teams. Namanda’s approach have given national teams an edge to both beach and indoor volleyball sports. Her presence is noticeable as three star players; Daudi Okello, Cuthbert Malinga and Ivan Ongom, ply their trade in Europe.
Technically, she has empowered coaches and playing in All Africa Games qualifiers became a delight. She has also established grassroots projects in Kamwokya and Naguru.
“All it takes is a bold step. Women need stop thinking that they are inferior and start believing they can excel even in a male dominated field,” Namanda says.
Her role has marketed her in the Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) where she and Peninah Kabenge are the most high ranking female sports administrators in Uganda.

Busy body, mind
Despite her flousrishing sports career, Namanda has a busy schedule at the Electoral Commission, where she works in the Voter Data Management department. She has undertaken short courses in the role of ICT in elections from Korea and another one in management of democratic elections in Africa, from Pretoria, South Africa.
Currently Namanda is pursuing a master’s programme in sports management at the Germany Sports University in Cologne. She also manages her two swimming stars; Namutebi and Mukalazi.
The 14-year-old Namutebi and elder brother Mukalazi (17), her only children, are household names in the swimming arena in Uganda. The siblings have dominated the Confederation African Swimming Confederation (Cana) Zone IV Swimming Championships, since they started competing at four and five years, respectively.
Kirabo won Uganda’s first gold medal at the Africa Juniors in September beating Rebecca Ssengonzi’s feat in 2015 in Cairo of silver and bronze.
Namutebi is fighting the highly competitive men’s crown with Ambala Atuhaire and Adnan Kabuye, among others, yet he is heading skywards. Namanda is excited with the progress of her children.

Chasing the dream
Coaches Muzafaru Muwanguzi, Tonny Kasujja and Juma Ssemanda particularly take care of the siblings’ training requirements. Namanda handles the athletes’ nutrition, searches for opportunities, finances their training and competition requirements on top of being the chief cheerleader.

“All I can do is to be there for them. Their father manages the coaching fees,” she says. But equipment remains a big hurdle with standard swimming suits costing more than Shs3m on top of other costs during international travels. “It’s having the support of a family and friends who believe in you and your goals and being able to rely on them,” Namanda says. “I think the hardest part is putting your ego aside and asking for help when you need it.”
She is focused on keeping them in pristine shape so they can compete in the World Championships and Olympics. “My commitment is to see them qualify,” she says.
Namanda says her children are her best friends. Swimming is a tedious sport that calls for as many as six hours of training. The siblings play tennis and basketball to avoid burnouts. “One of the challenges is that I am not a competitive swimmer but we read a lot about the sport and I have learned that it is important to relax.”
Namutebi is studying to become a surgeon while Mukalazi, an engineer. But both share a dream of becoming swimming coaches and also own a sports complex in Uganda. “Their dream is to become coaches, so that they can teach other children what to do,” she says.
Namanda hopes someone sees what Namutebi and Mukalazi are doing here and maybe get rid of their own fear to chase their dreams.
A normally reserved Namutebi summed up: “My mum’s the best role model I could ask for. She is always there giving me support and encouraging me. She is an inspiration for me.”

How Namanda juggles roles
Namanda’s routine involves waking up at 5am to do housework. She says most of the work is done at night or during weekends. She wakes the children up at 6:30am to have breakfast before dropping them to school by 7:30am. She handles volleyball affairs during lunch breaks and after work, unless there are scheduled meetings. She takes her children for swimming between 5-7pm and she sometimes hangs around to cheer them.
Sometimes she accompanies them for competitions abroad. During weekends, she attends her tennis academy outreaches and watches a few volleyball games, once in a while. Her busy life forced her to have dreadlocks for eight years because she hardly got time to visit salon.
She sometimes goes for sauna or steam and hangs out with friends once in a blue moon. Her studies in German take 20 days off her work each year when she travels. All these years, she upholds a philosophy of “Never give up.” “God has enabled me to multitask. Sports have shaped me into the woman I am today. At the moment she is keen on completing her term as president and possibly graduate to the continental volleyball body, CAVB.
Her secret
Namanda’s commitment is extraordinary. But it calls for patience. “Sometimes as parents we put our kids and coaches under duress with unrealistic expectations. That is natural but one must patiently wait and be part of the process,” she says. “Don’t make sport the only topic of conversation at the dinner table or in the car. Accept that they cannot win every time they compete,” Namanda advises fellow parents.
“There is little funding from government and this money does not go down to the grassroots. Any parents in sport must be willing to invest in their children’s dreams,” she adds.