Sailfish secure another home, target more growth

Swimming coaches Joseph Kabogoza and William Mulopa are over the moon after they found a new training centre in Buwaate for their nine year old club, Sailfish.

Sailfish, who were badly hit when the Covid-19 pandemic led to the closure of their base at GEMS Cambridge International School in Butabika, have gone from having no home for almost the entire 2021 to having two bases in under two years. 

Their latest home Eritine Complex - Buwaate - located on Buwaate Road almost 1.5km from Najjera's second town, has a new 25m and six-lane swimming pool that was recently used as a venue for a Dolphins Swim Club friendly and a Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) media clinic. 

It is enclosed and surrounded on either side of its length and the side of the starting blocks by a storeyed building that has space for a squash court, accommodation, dining and conference rooms. 

Although the sitting area was certainly not part of the owner's plan, the balconies offer a bird's view of activities in the pool should it be considered a venue for more prominent galas.

More importantly, the pool will help Sailfish's agenda to expand beyond the Ambrosoli International School - Bugolobi facility that they have been using since October 2021 when they had 76 swimmers.

"It is well constructed because it is exactly 25 metres," Kabogoza told Daily Monitor earlier this week.

"It gives us an opportunity to grow our numbers in a new area. There is really no other club in the areas of Buwate, Najjera and maybe parts of Kisaasi so we are taking our services closer to the people in that area."

The closest clubs in that area are Gators, which based in Ntinda plus Starling which is based in Nsasa.

Need for expansion 

Managing two centres has proved chaotic for some clubs in the past and led to splits but Kabogoza believes Sailfish have not been looking on blindly and have picked lessons.

"The reason we see these splits is that the registration of these clubs is never clear. But the people running the two centres (Eritine and Ambrosoli) are major shareholders in Sailfish and will be the last people to want to see it torn apart," he said.

Their Eritine Complex, a facility owned by Joaneetar Nattabi Bugembe, now has over 20 Sailfish swimmers and anyone engrossed in Ugandan swimming will tell you how important numbers are in local competitions. 

Sailfish have some of the country's most promising performers but have for years finished behind Gators, Dolphins, Seals, Silverfin and Altona because local galas are points-based championships. More numbers give you more points.