Schools in Mukono Municipality are having tireless training sessions as they make their teams ready for the first Mukono Municipality Primary Schools Mind Games and Swimming Championship.
Mukono Municipality games officer, Sylas Semuhara says that the mind games and swimming championship is slated for Friday March 8, 2024.
Semuhara and the organizing committee spent part of Saturday in a preparation meeting at the host school, St. Catherine Junior School located at Sonde in Goma Division. They also had to inspect the status of the facilities which are to be used for the swimming and the mind games like the swimming pools.
Solomon Kaggwa Ssempala, the secretary general Mukono Municipality Primary Schools sports teachers’ association says that despite being the first time they are organizing this kind of games, most schools have already registered in the swimming competitions.
Ssempala has listed ludo, chess, scrabble and draughts among the mind games that the pupils will be playing come Friday.
“The Ministry of Education and sports included the mind games and swimming, in addition to athletics, football, handball and volley ball which the schools will be competing into in the national primary school games this year,” he said.
Semuhara said that this championship is going to help schools organize their school teams early enough.
He noted that, “With the number of disciplines which the pupils will be participating in, I expect the schools to let their school sports teams grow in numbers. Let’s give a chance for almost all the pupils to take part in at least one or two different games. We should avoid having the same players dominating all the games.”
He added that schools must be places which identify children’s talents at an early age and help in nurturing them.
Denis Okwero, a swimming trainer at St. Catherine Junior School said he is honored to be the host of this first event which is going to get together talented children from different schools in Mukono Municipality.
Okwero says that as a sportsman, the sport keeps him physically fit and that he rarely goes to doctors and he is totally free from the non-communicable diseases that these days claim a big number of Ugandans including children.
He therefore urged parents to interest their children to engage in different sports activities saying those who involve themselves always have better health.
“We have many children today who are suffering from the non-communicable diseases which is a rare case for those who do sports,” he noted.
Kirabo Amanya, a Primary Five pupil who is the swimming team captain for St. Catherine Junior School says they are working hard in order to win the coming event.
“We cannot accept the visiting schools to win us. We must retain all the trophies,” Amanya confirmed.