Kampala. The inaugural Cana Zone III Championships that end tomorrow at Kampala International School of Uganda (Kisu) pose a huge challenge for Uganda’s underwhelming senior swimmers.
The country hasn’t had much success for swimmers aged 15 years and over in previous continental, zonal and regional championships, yet in that pool is where the country must continue to look for representatives at Olympics and World Cups. The country has instead achieved more in the junior (swimmers below 15 years) categories.
Rebecca Ssengonzi, 14, won two medals at the Africa Junior Championships in October. When Uganda Swimming Federation (USF) hosted the final edition of the Cana Zone III and IV Championships last year, 27 medals fell to the juniors, while the seniors won only five from Arnold Kisulo (two), Elisha Ekirikubinza, Jethro Ssengonzi and Tom Barendse.
It has equally been challenging for USF to establish the reason behind these contrasting results, with some blame attached to a heavily academic school curriculum.
“Our swimmers are getting less time in the pool compared to our competitors. Besides our pool of swimmers is small, for example we might have better talent upcountry but we can’t unearth it because of limited resources,” USF president Donald Rukare observed, even though there is a slight increase in swimmers joining clubs.
“In this part of the world, I have realized no one is ready for sacrifice, people fear to throw energy into one thing. Everyone is doing a little bit of everything; swimming, books, football. Yet to go into that next phase of swimming, you must have that hit-man attitude,” former Seals coach Mathew Alexander damningly noted before he returned home to South Africa on Monday.
mmuziransa@ug.nationmedia.com
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