Unseen and never done in such a long time, the National Boys Schools Cricket Week last for a whole seven days and, wait for it, had 16 participating schools. You heard right. The practice had been that the week is just a week in words but the tournament usually took not more than five days. As for the participating schools…rarely above ten.
Organized by East Enders Cricket Foundation on behalf of Uganda Cricket Association, the 2023 Schools Boys Cricket Week tested, rather successfully, the possibility of having a big number of schools and for the whole length of the week. East Enders, a sports charity foundation, seeks to be Africa’s and Uganda’s successful sports talent incubation hub through grassroots promotion and development of especially Cricket, Tennis, Golf, Hockey and Boxing.
The Boys schools Cricket week was the first major national sports event to be entrusted with East Enders. Its massive success, where Jinja Senior Secondary School emerging winners after beating Nyakasura in a nail-biting final showpiece, opened a successful holiday program for the sports hub in Jinja – the community cricket clinics. At East Enders, we believe that whereas schools are good breeding ground for talent since majority young people attend school, community involvement in a sport is a bedrock of support both in terms of religious following and moral support for the game and the player.
We therefore launched a community cricket clinic in seven villages on the outskirts of Jinja City and one in Iganga: Namulesa, Kimaka/Amber Court, Walukuba, Bugembe, Mafubira, and Kivubuka. The clinics were the first step at introducing, developing and running the game of cricket in communities outside of schools. The response was electric.
“We always thought this was a rich people’s game but we are happy that our children can now play it here near home,” a parent in Namulesa exclaimed as she stood on the sidelines watching the kids play. Oyaga Sadam, the Head of Cricket at East Enders says that should the experiment prove right, other regional hubs should consider community engagements.
“Traditionally we hear only of schools. Mwiri, Jinja SSS, Kololo SSS. You do not hear about a community team. In two years to three years, we should be able to hear communities or villages playing against one another here in Busoga. Bugembe Vs Walukuba West. “We want to see community members and parents and relatives coming out to watch their people play. That is the reason we have included community outreaches and training to ensure that people understand the game and also identify their children and relatives playing it. We want them to show up and support,” he said.
