Straight-talking Aguma on his path to America 

Strong-Willed. Aguma hates pity-parties and has come out of his comfort zone well to earn a scholarship at Dillard University in the US. PHOTO / INNOCENT NDAWULA

What you need to know:

  • Borris Aguma completed 2021 by receiving a full scholarship to play tennis and study Mass Communication at Dillard University in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

Complete Cycle.  Borris Aguma completed 2021 by receiving a full scholarship to play tennis and study Mass Communication at Dillard University in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Growing up inNaguru, a stone’s throw away from Lugogo Sports Complex,  Aguma learned how to play many sports including tennis as early as seven. Still a ball boy, Aguma won the Uganda Under-12 National Tennis championship in 2013 and went on to be invited to attend a month-long tennis clinic in Nairobi at Sadili Oval Sports Academy where he met Serena Williams. He was forthwith inspired by Williams to return to Kampala and work hard to use his tennis skills to find success. The Davis Cup player represented Kololo SS and then went on to play in the Kampala Premier Tennis League as part of the U.S. Mission team.Score Editor Innocent Ndawula caught up with the 2018 Uganda Sports Press Association Tennis Player of the Year at Ndere Cultural Centre before he caught his flight to the U.S. 

Who is Boris Aguma?

I am a 22-year-old multi-talented sportsman. I play basketball, boxing, cricket and tennis. It is the latter two that I took more seriously. I won the Division II title in cricket and played in the top tier for Charity Trust Fund Cricket Club. But it is in tennis where I have done and won it all right from Under 12 where I won the National Championship. I was also voted Uganda Sports Press Association (USPA) Tennis Player of the Year in 2018 after a memorable year on the court when I got my first International Tennis Federation (ITF) and ATP Points. 

It is a family thing because my younger brother Frank Akankwasa is equally talented. He can play several sports but looks like he picked cricket. And he has already made it to the national team at the age of 19 as an all-rounder. My youngest sibling is our sister – Jackie Kiconco – and she’s not into sports. She just wants to do school. I was born and bred in Naguru but our home village is in Kabwohe, Sheema District.

You have been in the news about your new scholarship. What are the details?

It’s a three-year full scholarship to play tennis and study Mass Communication at Dillard University in the U.S State of Louisiana. I am going to be living at the university and my primary goal is to help the university win championships. The university has very good facilities and they’re going to cater for all my needs. I am ready to show commitment because I have worked hard for it. I applied in May 2020.

 How did you earn the scholarship?

I think being honest helped me earn the scholarship. I never told any lies. I said it as it is. Even some of my friends were shocked that as a S.4 drop out from Kololo SS, I had been able to get admitted to such a prestigious institution. They didn’t know that it was my talent and numbers that had helped me get accepted. But also during the lockdown the head coach at Dillard University had asked to do some specific certificates that would help me qualify for the Mass Communication degree.

I have always been a smart kid. And even when I dropped out because of school fees, I knew I would go back to school one day. I love cameras, radios, gizmos and technology. I have always wanted to be like journalists with several skills of communication. I am happy that I am going to the land of opportunity to live my dream.

What can other players do to get such opportunities?

They must change some of their ways and think of things that will be developmental to their lives.

For starters, they can stop using their smartphones as mere entertainment gadgets.

I used much less internet data than they used  to download movies and watch movies during the lockdown to browse the internet searching for courses until I got the attention of Dillard University head coach Meenakshi Sundaram.

Talented Trio. Aguma (C circled) with his best friend Frank Nyago (R) and Cricket Cranes batsman Zephaniah Arinaitwe Katungi are happy to pose for the camera during a social event in Kampala recently.  PHOTO / EDDIE CHICCO

I also changed my life, friends and environment; leaving the comfort of my childhood home in Naguru and moving to Mutungo.

A person in Naguru needs Shs5, 000 to survive everyday but staying in Mutungo broadened my thinking.

I needed Shs20, 000 per day but meeting new friends and hanging out with diplomats and their sons got my mind refreshed and thinking.

I told them my life story and they were full of good advice that I used while searching for scholarships. 

Many of my age mates are too comfortable with the livelihood of Lugogo and Naguru, they don’t see beyond it. Accepting change and embracing it is hard but they must find middle ground.

We only live for a moment and must always work to the best of our abilities to make sure that we leave a positive mark. Blessings will come and they must not forget to pray to God first, every day!

What do you intend to do with this opportunity in regards to lifting others?

My first job is to make sure I fly the Ugandan flag high. I am going to give it my all and show the world that Uganda has a breed of very many talented tennis players and sportsmen apart from me.

If I do that and help Dillard University win silverware, I know coaches will approach me asking me to recommend some other guys from Uganda. I will have done my marketing bit. Then the rest will lay in the hands of my age mates to go through the application processes.

What are your plans after the degree?

I want to work in the U.S. I want to do my coaching badges and also return to inspire kids in Uganda. I want to be the owner of the largest tennis foundation in Uganda. I already have something small going – The AB Foundation - which I started during the lockdown.  I hope I will be able to work with Uganda Tennis Association (UTA) to make tennis a big sport.

But I also have dreams of playing ATP Challenge Tours in two years and maybe make the qualifiers of a Grand Slam in four to five years. I have many dreams, I never stop dreaming.

 What can the Association do to create more of these opportunities?

UTA must work with the players and coaches. I call them out to do more. I feel many players are short-changed and their actual potential is never realized because they feel used and ignored thereafter. The administrators only want us when we are playing for them and the country but afterwards they don’t care.

Once during a meeting for us national team players and UTA executive members, I challenged the tennis administrators on whether they knew our homes and whether they had also met our parents before.

They must have wished that their heads were buried under the table. They had no answers. They’re our second families and must always look out for us and offer guidance. The personal touch is lacking. We need it!

How much did UTA help you get this scholarship?

Overall, this has been a solo fight. Many officials in UTA wrote us (national team players) off as spent forces and as worth nothing. My drive was resolute from the beginning. But I have special praise for one gentleman in the association; the UTA Administrator Mr Alvin Bagaya.

He never played tennis and yet it is him that has changed the face of the game in Uganda since we were re-admitted by International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) in 2017.

He (Bagaya) is a resilient man from the cricket background and he is the only person that understands us. If it weren’t for him, many tennis players would have already stopped playing but he offers the connection. He gave me lots of advice when I opened up to him on my desire to play tennis and study in the U.S. 

He is so simple and I think he does most of the things for us without his bosses knowing. Many of the leaders just run away and hide when they see our phone calls. They know themselves and I won’t mention their names.

But I thank Mr Bagaya for writing me a recommendation letter that I took to the U.S Mission in Uganda, sent to Dillard University and also used to unlock many other doors at different offices.

Who else do you want to thank for this opportunity?

I am a product of that saying; “It takes a village to raise a child.”  Apart from getting almost zero help from UTA.

I am indebted to Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC), more so their administrator Elijah Njawuzi who has been on my side with never-ending advice right from May 2020. I was in his office and in his face almost every day. One time I feared he would chase me away. But I wasn’t planning on giving up. I thank UOC who have offered me a travel allowance, visa application fees and necessary documents.

I am lost for words to Tarik Marc – a Programmes Officer at the European Union (EU). A diplomat, who came into my life; became my friend and later a father. He took me to Germany in 2019 where I played in Division One League and got a nation ranking of 400.

He got me a stint at the Tennis Base in Paderborn and Munster. Now Marc has also put icing on his acts by paying for my flight to Louisiana. What a man! 

Round of applause also goes to DeMark Schulze – a diplomat friend of mine now working in Nepal – as well the couple of; Valentine and Omar, who pretty much know everything about me as I have lived with them since 2021.

What are you going to miss most?

It has got to be my best friend; Ibrah Nyago and Francis Kirabo Babu. Although I know I will see Kirabo soon because he is based in California.

I am also going to miss playing cricket. You know how I love to bowl 10 overs of tight off-spin on the trot and smack it big for six, too. Uganda is beautiful. But I will be back.

Does that mean you will still play for Uganda?

I am a man of many dreams and I keep my options open. If UTA does the right things. I will certainly play.

It is everyone’s dream to play for their country, I cannot turn it down. But like I said, I want to be playing ATP Challenge Tours in the near future and push for Grand Slams qualifiers in five to seven years’ time.

So are you already in touch with any athlete in the US?

One of my friends Babu, as I have already mentioned, is based in California and I had some cooling off time with him in Uganda during the pandemic. He told me a lot about the different cultures and lifestyles. So I know what to expect. I am also traveling with one of Uganda’s best young sprinters; Tarsis Orogot, alias ‘De Gonya’.  He is the next big thing in Uganda. He is going to attend Alabama University.

We got visas on the same day and with him I know I have a brother that I will talk to on anything and when the challenges come my way. We are looking to take each opportunity as it comes our way and tell them about the beautiful Ugandan story.

But why did you pick tennis and not cricket?

Having grown up in Lugogo, many youngsters are spoilt for choice. We are always looking for which sports discipline will accept us first. We want to get on the plane and travel the world from an early age. It is a dream and it is what people live for in Naguru. I love cricket and tennis but my decision was urged on by my wanting to be an individual sportsman. But to be honest, I miss the cricket team bondings. And of course picking those wickets and hitting them on a Sunday even without training. With cricket, I am a natural.

Without sports, where would you be?

I would be a thug somewhere out there in the world. Many of my friends and school mates have died because of involvement in drugs abuse and other crime vices like theft and early sex. I have seen them get wasted, fall off and perish to gunshots and mob justice. But make no mistake, I don’t regret coming from the ghetto. But it is about changing one’s ways and remaining focused. But for me, from the start I knew that wasn’t the road for me to take. I opted to use my talent in a bid of staying away from trouble. And now with this opportunity I want to conquer the world. I am hungry for success.

What advice can you give to the youth?

The youth must focus, especially us from the ghetto. We are X-Factors and it takes just one moment of soul-searching to know what you want.

I advise them to give more time to sports because it is on those fields of play that our futures will be carved out. We spend an entire day at sports facilities from 9am to 8pm. And it is at these arenas that we meet and dine with diplomats, judges, top journalists, doctors and lawyers. That is our world and sports is our career and true calling.

 What is your motto in life?

 Anything that doesn’t have life, cannot defeat me. I am unstoppable!

Final word!

My message to my age mates and fellow youth is a rallying call of focus. We should stop seeing each other as competition. We are family. We need to be real. People who can co-exist always achieve great things together.

I also advise them to be humble and disciplined. They should also involve themselves in meeting new people, visiting new places and hangouts.

You never know who you will find there. They should also try and seek new opportunities on top of learning a new language.

They must also stop using mobile phones to watch movies. With our smart phones we can achieve many things.

I am going to the USA because of my iphone 6. There are so many educational websites and offers on the internet.

All they want is people to log in and get in touch with them. Those websites want real people, so my fellow youth must avoid funny stories and only tell the truth.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has been there for me. I am indebted.

I am also grateful to Mr. Alvin (Bagaya) who doesn’t have much but has done a lot to see where Uganda tennis is today since we returned to the ITF fraternity.

We are playing tournaments right from Under-8 to Davis Cup and Fed Cup for the ladies, once again.

It is a massive step in the right direction from where we were four years ago. He is dedicated and yet like I said he’s never played tennis.

I want him to be the next UTA president because he’s someone the players and coaches can work with.

THE USE OF A CELL PHONE

My age mates must stop using mobile phones to watch movies. With our smart phones we can achieve many things. I am going to the USA because of my iphone 6. There are so many educational websites and offers on the internet. All they want is people to log in and get in touch with them. Those websites want real people, so my fellow youth must avoid funny stories and only tell the truth.

QUICK SINGLE

Toughest Opponents: Duncan Mugabe on the local scene and Jordan Parker (US). I led him in both sets during the ITF Circuit in Lugogo but he still won. He was 700 in the world at that time in 2019. There was also this guy I played in Germany called Jimmy Yang. He was in the top 100 in the league. I did not click a thing he did. His serves were very hard to read.