USF forge forward as continued lockdown threatens calendar
With the need to make up for lost training time in the pool, it is likely to take some time for swimmers to feel the adrenaline rush from competitions even after the lockdown ends. PHOTO BY JOHN BATANUDDE
Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (Fuba) is one of the bodies that came out to clarify how they would want to proceed with their national league after the Covid-19 lockdown.
They decided that, depending on time, they would either group their clubs or play a one-legged regular season before proceeding to semi-finals.
But it has not been easy for all sports to come out with such clarity.
For swimming, the extended lockdown on sports which is certain to take at least another 21 days, means more events in upcoming months could be cancelled.
National swimmer Tendo Mukalazi has it even tougher as the lockdown means he has to wait to pursue his year-long Fina scholarship in Thailand.
“What we have from the coaches is that it will take the swimmers at least two to three months (of training in the pool) to get back to a level where they can compete,” Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) president Moses Mwase, told members during an online meeting last week.
That would mean, the earliest a swimming competition could be held in this country is September.
“Our calendar was due to be endorsed by the AGM in March and we should be at an advanced stage of planning for the national age group championships.
However, we might have to cancel some activities.” The Cana Zone III Championships which are due here in November could also be affected as USF has lost a lot of planning time.
“Cancelling that would require briefing the Cana Zone III bureau and we shall engage them to see a way forward,” Mwase noted. As and when competitions return, USF would “like an orderly return” where their activities do not clash with those of its members, who are already asking the federation to come up with more competitions for younger swimmers (below eight years) and international schools.
“More international schools have come up and they need tough competition. So maybe they need us to come back and run their competitions,” USF vice-president Peter Mugisha, agreed.
National and Stingrays coach Abel Ddamulira, however, suggested that international schools need to take the initiative to approach USF.
“There is need to iron out a few things before they come to competitions. What happens if a foreign students beats the national record (in a USF-organized gala), does it become the new record or just a meet record?” Development committee member Eric Kisero suggested that the younger swimmers have enough events organized by clubs.
AFFECTED EVENTS THUS FAR
March:
*National Secondary Schools Gala
*Annual General Meeting
April:
*Cana Senior Championships
*Fina Officials Course
*Water Polo Coaching Clinic
*Water Polo Development Camp
*Dolphins Junior Gala
*Seals League II
May:
*National Masters Gala
*Water Polo & swimming upcountry
*Seminars Gulu, Ndejje and Mbarara
*Silverfin Pentathlon
June:
*National Championships
July:
*Summer Olympics
