Strange but true! The national Uganda national volleyball team (Volleyball Cranes) preparing for the 2019 Zone 5 All Africa Games (AAG) Qualifiers due June 2-9 June in Nairobi, Kenya has been denied access to the national indoor stadium for preparations.
Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, Tanzania, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea are the nations to take part in the competition with the overall winner set to progress to the continental championship.
According to Uganda Volleyball Federation (UVF), they need $12,000 US Dollars to fully facilitate the team. “We have a very good team but the major problem at the moment is lack of fiancé and training facilities. We need to acclimatize to a surface like that we shall find at the competition but we cannot access the indoor arena. Most of our local action is on grass and concrete which is a disadvantage. Government should give us the arena and financial support,” UVF President Hadijja Namanda told the media on Monday.
She said that National council of sports (NCS) levying daily charges on UVF for a national team training which money they do not have given the fact that NCS has had no financial contribution to the team.
Despite having a good team, Head Coach Nason Bwesigye believes that denial of indoor courts has negative psychological implications on the players in the wrong run. “We do not practice high balls due to outside wind yet this is vital. Sometimes players do not go for low balls in training due to fear of injuries,” Bwesigye noted.
The team last trained from the indoor arena during the women’s AGG qualifier championship, but had to wait until the games ended late in the night. 20 players, including Europe-based are in camp before the coach names the final squad of 14 players on Thursday after a trial match.
