Babirye Kityo Delighted about UNF achievements since stepping in office

By Our Reporter

Ugandans intend to forget so much especially people who don’t follow sports well but you need to know that on June  5th 2021, Uganda Netball Federation changed leadership through a vote and former Youth Member of Parliament, Babirye Kityo Sarah with her team took over the steering wheel of the ‘sinking boat’.

Today, November 15th 2022,  she marks one year and four month in office as UNF President,  Babirye is delighted by her achievements along with her entire team since stepping the mantle in 2021.

Remember there  was a hurdle in power transition, from the old leadership to new one, the old that was under Susan Anek, never wanted to hand over power in June, however they bowed to pressure and accepted to hand over in August.

And ever since they handed over power, the executive on July 13th 2021 unleashed the state of the art office at Aga Khan Building Old Kampala and it was the first visible achievement of the new executive. It should be noted that UNF for the past years under the leadership of Susan Anek Ongom, now a national council board member, was renting a single room office at the national council of sports complex.

We all know that to have a smooth running of the activities one must have a tool to guide him or her and on that note the new executive unveiled a strategic plan 2021-2025 that will direct them in their four years of rule which has not been the case with the former leadership which is pegged on the following key strategic pillars, governance, finance and administration, marketing, branding and communication, competition and events and national teams, going forward the UNF executive headed by Babirye base on this strategic plan as a blueprint for the mammoth work Uganda netball federation is doing to reclaim the rightful place netball as a sport deserves both locally and internationally. T

One of the immediate tasks was to establish the secretariat that will be tasked with day to day management which is now in place headed by the chief executive officer (CEO).

The other key focus areas was to create opportunities for both girls and boys to play and enjoy the sport and this achievement can’t go unnoticed this was done through revamping and creating new competitions and events, In her position as President of UNF as nicknamed “Game changer” has made sure she gets new supportive friends for netball a strategy that has worked in a way to increase resource envelope and improve the netball image countrywide and world over.

Furthermore, the strategy has extended to include; elite and amateur competitions and events to showcase the talents, create content for netball audiences, and attract new fan base.

In addition to that, Babirye and her executive  have managed to bring on  sponsors in the last one year and four months by re-branding some of the  products like the Uganda She Cranes,  talks are ongoing  to  get a sponsor  for the Uganda netball Super  League, second division and the men’s league not forgetting the youth netball league which soon will be launched at Kamwokya netball courts and this will help keep youth busy during holiday times and will be played all over the regions.

It should be noted that UNF now has three sponsors affiliated with the She Cranes and other federation brands, these include; GOtv, King Caesor University, Plascon Paint.

Babirye has  managed to greatly reduce the wrangles in netball  and re-brand of top flight league which has brought back some bit of competition among clubs.

The male netball team named the “Rock”, with support from different stakeholders and well-wishers, the team represented the country in international male netball championship held in South Africa  won a silver medal and next year the team will be heading for the first male netball world cup qualifiers preparations are soon starting with top executive meeting the technical team to draw plans. This milestone brought netball as a sport into the media and the public started to remember that the game is still in existence, many stakeholders continued to associate with the sport.

The federation went back to the continent but this time with the She Cranes in double competitions, that was a ranking Tournament, pent Series and the Africa netball championship both held in Windhoek, Namibia between November , 1st and 16th. Uganda won the  pent series and the highlighted issue was to beat Malawi at an unexpected margin, Uganda later  finished  second in Africa netball championship after losing to South Africa in 2021.

First in the history of netball, the federation unveiled  a contracted national team head Coach, Fred Mugerwa  Tabale on a two year contract, before netball was only appointing coaches for special tournaments.

Another big achievement  manifested when the world rankings indicated that Uganda is now ranked 2nd on continent and 6th on the world, which gave She Cranes automatic qualification to 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and world netball cup 2023 to be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The federation held the maiden under 12 regional tournament that was won by the central region in 2021, and had the first edition of street netball held in Arua City. With all the achievements in 2021,  listed above, reaching them without quarterly support from the National Council, that alone it will be wrong and not appreciative to God that the year was so bad to netball and it was in time of Covid-19 pandemic.

In the six months, two Ugandan clubs national insurance corporation (NIC) and Kampala University (KU) won the female and male respective 2022 East Africa netball clubs championship on home soil.

NIC successfully defended their crown with a 44-35 victory over rivals Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) at the Kamwokya community sports grounds, Kampala. For the men, Kampala University (KU) won the championship after emerging unbeaten in three matches.

Uganda national netball team, She Cranes completed the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the fifth position, ahead of South Africa (6^th). Malawi is 7th, Wales (8th), Scotland (9th), Northern Ireland (10th), Trinidad and Tobago (11th) and Barbados (12th), this followed a well worked out 54-48 victory over South Africa at the NEC complex in Birmingham, United Kingdom on Friday,  August 5th.

On their first time, Fast 5 World Series 2022 Uganda’s She Cranes did not disappoint at the  Netball Fast Five World Series tournament hosted in Christchurch, New Zealand. Uganda settled for fifth position with three wins, one against eventual winners Australia, 32-30. Also defeated Jamaica 33-22 and recorded a 32-10 win over the same opponents in the classification match to take 5th place;  Australia,  South Africa,  England,  New Zealand, Uganda and  Jamaica.

The Uganda netball super league 2022-2023 is ongoing at different netball courts, soon the second division is set to throw off alongside the men’s super league, on the side of the youth, the U20 fast5 women is set to start preparations ahead of the competition to be hosted in Trinidad and Tobago,

The men team will be facing off with Nigeria, Ghana, and Morocco in build matches early next year, with the Uganda national netball team She Cranes before heading to Cape Town for 2023 world netball cup will be having several build up matches with some of the top big four teams at the date and month to be communicated.