KAMPALA, UGANDA: Experienced Sports Administrator Patrick Ssebuliba has expressed his readiness and promised to turn Victoria University into one of the powerhouses of Sports in the country.
Ssebuliba joined Victoria University as a sports administrator in 2020 after ending his spell at Nkumba University where he had helped the Entebbe-based institution win over 300 trophies across all Sports Disciplines.
In an interview with The-SportsNation, Ssebuliba offered an insight into their plans and preparations, revealing that he wants to reinstate a strong Victoria University Football team that years back went on to feature in Uganda Premier League.
Ssebuliba who served as FUFA Football Delegate for over 10 years is the current General Secretary for University Sports in Uganda.
“It’s just unfortunate that after some time, the leadership of the University changed and then the Victoria University FC team ceased to exist,” he told The-SportsNation.
“But the current leadership, including one of the University Directors Mr. Rajiv Ruparelia, is a Sportsperson. My Vice-Chancellor (Prof. Lawrence Muganga) is a lover of Sports and we have already begun exchanging ideas on how best we can strongly engage sports in this University.
“You are very much aware that sports is one of the co-curricular activities that is a must in all educational establishments. So we provide time for our students to do physical fitness not for fun but for physical wellbeing, healthy wellbeing and competition.
“This University has given scholarships to over 80 students, because of that we want to have visibility for the University through Sports.
“We have a number of local, regional and international competitions where we must compete in, so we had to get the good talent to give us the good results. We are handling these things step by step, we do not like to just go out there and concede 8.”
During his time at Nkumba, the men’s basketball team (Nkumba Marines) won the National Basketball League back to back – 2005 & 2006 – and they also played in Zonal competitions in Kigali and Dar es Salam.
The Women Volleyball team won eight national league titles and won the national championship twice as well. Nkumba also represented Uganda eight times at the Africa championship.
Ssebuliba was also voted the football best coach twice at the University league and his side reached the University Football League final once. Won trophies at Wakiso district, Buganda region, among others.
They won at the East Africa University games thrice in Dar, Makerere, and Kenyatta. They were more dominant in Volleyball, Handball, and Netball.
“I started out at Nkumba at around the age 21, I had just left Campus, and I served there for 25 years! I was working initially as a lecturer in the department of Business Administration,” Ssebuliba who did a diploma in Marketing, Bachelors in Business Administration, and Masters in Education Management, told The-SportsNation.
“During the course of my working with Nkumba, the University gave me an opportunity to be in charge of Sports. I had already shown my passion for Sports.
“Then I did a lot of training – Like the Football coaching courses etc. My main interest was in Football majorly.”
“But I achieved a lot in almost each sports discipline and that’s what I want to do here with Victoria University.”
“By scouting good players, having the right coaches and I have moved on with most of them, they didn’t have Contracts with Nkumba actually, I struggled to pay them while at Nkumba but right now Victoria is taking them on and will pay them. We recruited the best here, including Former She Cranes coach Rashid Mubiru who will handle our Netball teams.”
Last year, Victoria University’s Women team finished fourth in the National Handball League on their debut season. This year, the side will be competing in the National Basketball League (after acquiring Sharing Youth’s slot in top-flight).
The University will later on this year, in July, host the Woodball Presidents Cup at Kampala International School.
Ssebuliba says that he will use his expertise and experience to see that Victoria University become a formidable force in Ugandan sports.
“I am a believer, I know what I am capable of, I have got strong backing from my bosses here at Victoria University and we have already recruited some of the best players in most sports disciplines. The University is also in advanced plans to put up our own sports facilities among other developments.”
He added: “I had collected 318 trophies during my time at Nkumba University, that is what I surrendered when I was leaving, you may all go there and see that trophy cabin. We won them in Uganda, East africa and International level.”
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