Oketcho dribbles family, motherhood and hoops

On arrival for this interview, Flavia Oketcho, in faded blue jeans and a matching top, emerges without any make-up and promises to return in exactly 10 minutes.
“You know I am not the make-up type. Wait here and I will be back in 10 minutes,” Oketcho says before diving into her family home which boasts a neat green compound.

She returns more than an hour later dressed in a black dress, pink earrings, multi-coloured necklace, lots of lipstick and blue high-heeled shoes.
Holding her one-year-old baby – Chantelle – in one hand, Oketcho clearly looks so different from the player seen every other week hustling opponents for the ball .
“When I had Chantelle, it wasn’t so hard adjusting because she is a part of me I love so much. It’s a whole new world.

“I actually started jogging six weeks after birth and could play in one-and-a-half months. Life was only a continuation.” Flanked by her fiancée Chizzo Lubega, a musician she met three years ago, she also speaks openly about her love for basketball and music. And the start of what got her to KCC Leopards now was never a Sunday evening walk in the park.

“I used to watch my cousin Ox (Wilbrod Okecho) play and gained interest,” Flirsh Flavia, like her Facebook profile reads, says. Okecho (RIP), a former DMark Power star, dominated the local league with size something that should have kept the much shorter and lightweight lady away.

Fashion contest
Many people often told her: you are not for basketball. You are not so tall. “If I want something, I will go for it and I did. “First time I played was at Kitante and I was so excited. I came 15 minutes late and the coach then called Mr. Mubiru turned me away.

Mubiru accompanied the snub with ‘this is not a fashion contest’. She claims to have been wearing only shorts and a t-shirt and nothing extravagant. “I was embarrassed so I came 30 minutes early the next day. Within a week, I made the school team.” For some time, she was the sixth ‘man’.

“It’s not because I didn’t have game, I was regarded as young.” In her senior three, Flavia, then 15, joined Lady Bucks. Eight months on in 2001, Flavia never got a chance to play. “As a new kid on the block, the coach had to respect the older players.

“I later got on in a game for about 40 seconds towards the end of the season but didn’t touch the ball; just run up and down the court.” Lady Bucks won seven league titles before folding last year. Flavia was part of the record champions in three of their winning seasons.

Attention from men came in handy and Flavia has a livid response to it. “I am not easily flattered. I get so many hits but treat most of them like brothers and laugh it off. I get very bold with that,” she laughs loudly like on so many occasions during the interview. Six years after her league debut, Uganda Christian University (UCU) offered Flavia a sports scholarship which she accepted and played for them as she pursued a degree in Mass Communication.

UCU entered the league as Lady Canons and won their first title in 2008 with Flavia emerging most valuable player. Upon completion of her undergraduate course, she joined KCC Leopards, a rival team where she went on to win another crown in 2009. She again won the MVP award that year.

“I have been lucky to have good teammates and the bonding goes beyond the court. A Sunday barbecue, watching movies and chatting makes it easier with the basketball.” Players choose numbers and Flavia has a curious reason as to why she opted for four (4) which is inscribed in Chizzo’s haircut. “No one recognizes number 4 because even when they give out trophies, they give to one, two and three. So people don’t know that I am the silent killer.

It (the 4) even looks cute on Chizzo’s head.” Being into music and basketball, the two love birds are a good meal for the gossip columns. “It’s easier to love the attention than dealing with it,” she says. Chizzo has an even bolder response.

“The best way to deal with tabloids is being open. Most of the time, they aren’t right.” Together, they also manage Fast Lane Crew, an entertainment company, which handles musicians, dancers, video editors, music equipment and does events. “He always watches me train and attends all my games. I love it. We have a relationship where he pushes me a lot to go to the gym to do strength, speed and to jog daily.”

They have built a bond to easily include Louis Lubega, 10, a son Chizzo fathered from a previous affair. As they speak about music, the affection for MoTown and Soul Music is profound. No wonder, Flavia first fell in love with Chizzo’s voice. On an evening in 2008, there was a lot of Monday evening traffic in the city so she opted to loosen up at the now defunct Chi Bar on Lumumba Avenue.
“My friend Bebe Cool (a local musician) introduced him as ‘this is Chizzo from the UK!” They played a game of pool.

The lady won the game and the conversation stretched into basketball with Chizzo disputing her ability mainly due to her 5ft 6’ frame. “I invited him to watch me the next day and he brought me lucozade and chocolate. That was sweet.” They even went for a shoot around as they drew ever closer. “I challenged him to shoot five from the free throw line facing the rim while I shot 10 looking away from him. I won. “ I then opted to shoot from outside the arc while he shot from inside and I still beat him. He is improving though.”

The love for music perhaps ticked all the boxes. “First time I heard Chizzo sing, his voice stood out and I am not saying that because of what we are today.”
Flavia, 25, a Japhadholar from the eastern district of Tororo, was the only child of his mother Edith Jamwa. Her father Alexander Okello Oketcho died when she was only seven. She admits to having grown up with lots of aunties through her years at Nakasero, Nabbingo and Kitante Primary schools in addition to Kitante Hill School and Makerere College.

“The reason I accepted to do this interview is to use it as an inspiration for all the young people. There is press waiting to see us do bad things even when they don’t happen but I have learnt to live with it.”
Flavia is hyper while Chizzo is the ‘cooling stone’ and ‘it works well that way’, they both agree.

“The hardest time comes when she has to go away then I work in the night since that’s the time to put music out there,” he says.

“Music is my life. It’s the only thing I have known all my life,” Chizzo, the first of the five children born to Fred Matovu and Rose Wadda of Masaka, adds.
Wedding bells will knock sometime next year. “He has to propose first,” she warns. “Even when he first came to me, I had to make him run around a bit. My motto is never give up.”

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