When will our country Uganda and particularly the Government of Uganda start taking sports seriously.
Just a day after the FUBA president Nasser Sserunjonji announced that the Silverbacks had pulled out of the 2023 FIBA world cup qualifiers that kill off this Friday in Angola; the government through the state minister for sports confirmed that the team will make the trip for the qualifiers and it will be fully funded by government.
The availability of the money is something everyone will welcome with open hands but where does this lack of un seriousness from government and National Council of Sports_ NCS in particular leave the moral of the players ahead of such a big stage championship and the promotion of basketball in the country.
Sport is one green area that the government needs to tap into serious because it has the potential to turnover lives of many young people who can use it as a platform to earn a living and thus contribute to the growth, development and transformation of this country.
Uganda has proved that even with poor funding of national teams; each time these teams get the opportunity to represent the country, they put out their best and thus raise the Uganda flag high and such performances like the most recent ones from; the Silverbacks in the FIBA Afrobasket where they finished 6th; the Volleyball Cranes at the Africa Nations Cup in Rwanda where they finished 5th; and the netball She Cranes who finished second behind South Africa at the Net Africa Cup in Namibia should be wake up calls to the government to think more positively about sport and thus make investment that will help the athletes and the country at large to reap big from the sports industry.
Additionally, sports should be one platform through which government should walk the talk of patriotism; nationals teams must be a responsibility of government without any excuse and the federations' role should be to identify and prepare the athletes for national engagements.
Strong teams ; greatest performances and achievements start from team preparations and the government should be the last entity to fail our national teams because its these national teams that truly represent who we are as a united country.
Hey Silverbacks, Go make Uganda proud. Maybe another good performance will help in awakening government to do more support to sports than just coming out as a last hour saviour.
By: Joseph Mary Ssempiira www.sportznow.ug Writer.
