Woodball, a sport still played by a few corporate entities in Uganda like the Ministry of Public Service, Uganda Prisons, and Higher Education Institutions like Ndejje University, Makerere University Business School, Gulu College of Health Sciences, just to mention, visited Gulu City at the 7th Uganda Open Coral Coatings International Woodball Championship 2023 from November 4th to 5th.
The arrival of Woodball in Gulu City made the host, Gulu University get a Woodball team after two weeks of intense training before the Championship. This visit also launched the Woodball Association of Gulu, with Opiyo Francis, the Gulu University Caretaker Dean of Students as its interim Chairperson. The Association is tasked with promoting Woodball in the Acoli-Sub-region and all support for Woodball would be channeled to the chapter.
This is a very good gesture for the game- but wait a minute, Paul Kayongo Mark, the President of Uganda Woodball Federation, and his team are just fulfilling their obligations under the Uganda National Council for Sport (NCS), their regulators’ sub-regulation (2) of the Statutory Instrument No.38 of 2014 which requires registered Sports Association or Federation to have a countrywide presence, responsible for popularizing the sport they are registered for, among others.
This is a plus to Uganda Woodball Federation, however scanning through over 50 registered Federations or Associations with the NCS on their website also meant that many of the Federations or Associations have their activities centered within Kampala or have less upcountry engagement, contravenes the said Statutory Instrument.
Names like Uganda Lacrosse Association for Lacrosse Sport are scarce on the country-side. Are the youth from Northern Uganda aware that apart from targeting performances in the dance halls in towns, they could tour the world through dance sporting by the Uganda DanceSports Federation? Where in the suburb can we get activities of the Gymnastics Association of Uganda, Uganda Fencing Associations, Uganda Archery Federation, and other bodies not mentioned here?
Woodball’s visits to Gulu also put the primary regulator and the line Ministry in the spotlight about some of the games or sports only having a concentration centrally yet the law protects all Ugandans to have a glimpse of every sport and the same law cautions the regulator not to register a sport that would lack equipment or facilities for national inclusiveness.
Woodball Federation officials tested this from Gulu when the day’s chief guest representing his Vice-Chancellor on the evening of November,5th stood up.
“I didn’t know about Woodball; this is my first time about Woodball, they told me that Woodball is a cheaper version of playing golf. But What touched me about this sport was the gender balance in the game since it is played across all age brackets and gender”.
The first line confession of Obol David Otori, the Gulu University Secretary who was undersecretary in the Law Reform Commission in Kampala for nine years before joining Gulu University can be traced to the awareness of sports in Uganda. He got to know the sport that evening unlike the case would have been with football or volleyball etc.
Learning the game two weeks before the competition, the Gulu University team was floored to last positions in both female and male categories. “In sports, losers don’t go to court to petition but losing should be a motivation of winning next time”. Otori said.
Ray of Hope for Woodball Awareness in Uganda:
Paul Kayongo Mark, who said he is the founder of the sport in Uganda and Africa after seeing it on one of his trips to China in 2007 succeeded in creating awareness at Gulu University and the region as 25 referees were trained to sustain the sport.
‘With our strategic distribution of the sport, all-region shall learn and participate by spreading the game”. Kayongo said.
According to him, not like other games, Woodball has the uniqueness of no physical contact, making the mind an asset to the game.
27-year-old Komagum Emmanuel, who knew the game in 2014 as a student at Kyambogo College in Kampala, a graduate of Clinical Medicine of Gulu College of Health Sciences has written books for Woodball namely, ’Woodball My Game in 2017,’ Woodball for Beginners’. These earned him an award from the Woodball Federation.
‘’I want this young man to be the ambassador and to advocate for Woodball in Uganda, he can help support the campaign of making Woodball known in Uganda, I see a lot of potential in him “. Kayongo submitted.
The Federation already announced that in 2024, they would be in Soroti in Eastern Uganda and this is a testament that Woodball is on the path to being recognized beyond Kampala, this could be emulated by the other Federations and Associations only visible on the NCS website from upcountry.
The Woodball Federation walks with Coral Coatings side by side as their major sponsor and knows already that Soroti is a walkover!
Ends
Audio File: Paul Kayongo Mark the President of Uganda Woodball Federation speaking on why they brought the Championship to Gulu on November 5th, 2023.
