The Uganda Secondary Schools Sports Association (USSSA) and Uganda Primary Schools Sports Association (UPSSA) have joined forces to fortify talent identification and development initiatives in the nation. Despite a history of independently organized national competitions, the two associations recently took a pivotal step towards collaboration during a meeting held at the USSSA offices in Kampala.
The lack of synchronization in the staging of national competitions by USSSA and UPSSA has been a long-standing issue. However, with UPSSA president Pauline Musigire and USSSA’s Justus Mugisha at the helm, an agreement was reached to create a unified entity responsible for organizing school games.
Mugisha elucidated the objectives of this collaboration, highlighting the aspiration to establish a robust school body, bridge the gap between primary and secondary school sports, and foster uniform development of human resources, rules, and regulations in school sports, among other goals. He expressed USSSA’s commitment to guiding and supporting UPSSA in reaching a similar level of organizational prowess, drawing on their own experience of self-organization before government financial support.
Assistant Commissioner of PES Sam Odong extended gratitude to both associations for their collaborative effort, recognizing the positive impact it could have on school sports development. The collaborative spirit was demonstrated during the previous year’s national UPSSA games in Mbarara, where USSSA provided support in online registration and capacity building, training 253 teachers as umpires and coaches, and assisting with the dressing of the organizing committee.
UPSSA president Pauline Musigire expressed his satisfaction with USSSA’s involvement, anticipating a positive transformation for the association. He acknowledged the learning opportunity provided by USSSA, expressing confidence that, with time, UPSSA would gain the capacity to manage these activities independently. Musigire emphasized forthcoming changes in eligibility criteria for primary games, specifying that only athletes in the U12 and U14 categories would compete, with U16 no longer eligible. Additionally, he announced a shift to online registration using the Learner’s Identification Number (LIN) for each pupil.
