end of story

this is now the end of our story. thank you for staying with us all along our journey to dubai.

i will no longer be making any entries into this blog but will open a new blog next year and will keep you updated on our world cup exploits.

cheerio

Brenda Kayiyi

Brenda Kayiyi
11 February 1987
Height: 5’1
Weight: 55.5kg

Brenda says … the day before the tournament I was so scared. i had never played in an international 7’s tournament before and kept thinking about the games I would play the next day. I found it very hard to sleep. I started our first game (against Zimbabwe) while shaking but when someone passed me the ball I opened out on the wing and ran. A Zimbabwe player grabbed me and I stopped so that I could offload the ball. Just as I was about to pop the ball to oncoming support I realized that she had released so I bolted for the try line. When I crossed the try line the only people chasing me were my teammates so when Helen pointed to the centre posts I did not hesitate to run there and score. It was the first try of the game and my first international try. That chased away the butterflies I had and I was able to play comfortably.

After our 2nd game of the day against Botswana I was so confident and relaxed such that when the team manager told us the ice bath was waiting i actually rounded up my teammates and headed to the changing room. My teammates were shocked to see kayonjo and Helen jumping into the icebath first (although Helen only put in her legs) then me following shortly after. I don’t know what it was but I was so sure we were going to qualify that not even the icebath could scare me. Our final game on Saturday was against Tunisia. They were good but I knew we could beat them. We played so well in the first half and the Tunisians did not get out of their 22 but we were not patient enough so we did score. It was 0 - 0 at half time. Helen scored in the second half but they equalized soon after. Despite their captain getting a yellow card the Tunisians scored again and converted it so the final score was 12 – 05. I cried after that game and I have never felt so bad. I could not believe we had lost. I was so happy when we were told that we were going to play the Tunisians again in the semifinal. We would revenge!

My roommate, charlotte, had got concussed in the game against Tunisia. She really wanted to play the next day and I could not imagine us playing without her. I made charlotte drink water all through the night hoping that her headache would go so that she would be allowed to play. In the morning, Charlotte said she felt fine so I told her to borrow head gear from Helen as I knew Helen always carried 2 of them. After she borrowed the head gear she came back to the room and went back to sleep wearing it. I knew we were going to win (although we found out later that charlotte was not allowed to play).

In the semi final we put the Tunisians under a lot of pressure but kept missing our chances. We finally scored and Helen converted it: the half time score was 07 – 00. This time it was me who got a yellow card in the second half. A Tunisian player had broken through the defence line and I made a desperate tackle from behind. Unfortunately it was a high tackle so I was sent off for 2 minutes. I wanted to cry. I felt I had let the team down. I watched in misery as the Tunisians put pressure on my teammates but they defended so well. Words cannot describe how I felt when the final whistle blew. I collapsed onto the ground and although people tried to make me stand my legs were too weak. It took a few minutes before I could get up and join my teammates and our fans celebrating.

I am so grateful for the coaches, team managers, doctors and my teammates who made this dream possible: especially mutaks and soggy who believed in me and put me on the team and Helen who kept on encouraging me and pushing me and teaching me new skills.

Lady Cranes, let’s not relax, we are not yet there. We stop in dubai.

Josephine Namayega (Yogi)

Josephine Namayega (Yogi)
15 September 1979
Height: 5’8
Weight: 76kg

BEFORE

MIGHTY WOMAN OF VALOUR ...
we were at kampala rugby club after a 15's game and mutaks read names the for guys who were going to train for 7’s ... I (first from left) did not hear my name and it did not bother me that much because I used to think that 7's is a game for small speedy people. All the same I showed up for training with the 7s guys so as to improve my fitness. After 2 weeks, our fitness coach, doc Arthur told me impressed with my speed and asked me to join the seven's training squad. I was so over joyed (although I did not show it). 2 weeks before the qualifiers we had trial games and I was a bit nervous: I thought “if I do not play well today that’s the end of my world cup dreams”. before we started the games I told my teamates "I AM A VERY GOOD RUGBY PLAYER AND NO ONE CAN TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME." they all laughed because it sounded like a joke but I really meant it because I felt it (trumpet hahahahah). Some of them were shocked to hear mutaks name me as the captain of the second team (hey, honestly didnt bribe him) ... then I played ... it was my first best rugby game that I’ve ever played ... I took every gap that opened and chased after everyone in defence. I gave prossy a handoff that people say she flew about 5 metres back (THEY EXAGGERATE I’M SURE BUT HEY PROSSY WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE HAND-OFF ... HAHAHA). Then when mutaks read the final 14 the following week I knew I was going to make it to the last 12. I just had that unshakeable feeling from deep within.

I was so worried when we were told we had to go into camp 3 days before the tournament. I though my boss would not release me but God had softened her heart and she actually told me that we should have gone into camp earlier for better bonding (hmm GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS). we went to camp and people were in a jolly mood ... girls were eager to display their non rugby talent such as eating. I think that everyone who saw us eat was suitably impressed but … all good things come to an end. On Friday night girls lost their eating talent and food was a major burden (except for fortunate and aallyia). The moment we had waited for was a few hours away. We all piled into charlotte’s room to watch 7’s games and Mutaks came to give us a pre tournament team talk. He talked and I honestly got a running stomach that moment. I got so nervous that I went straight to my bed.

SATURDAY
most of us were still in a joyful mood. We played our first 2 games which were not so hard, but when tunisia came it was a hassle. we had many chances to score but we did not utilise them and we lost the game. i felt soooooooooooooo bad, but i told myself not to cry and then after soggie confirmed that we were playing tunisia in the semi final tears started rolling down my cheeks. i knew this is the moment we had to play with our minds, hearts, souls and all that we had. we went back to the hotel like we had already qualified. People were happy and i saw helen for the first time that week pile a huge heap of food on her plate. i was shocked ... i was like ok now this is it; something good is going to happen. we went to bed but to tell you the truth i was thinking of the semi final. I did not watch tv that night and I did not talk to my roommate (christine) either.

SUNDAY
I’ve never felt more of a UGANDAN like i felt that sunday morning ... i was thinking i had to do this for my nation. i think everyone in the team was more proud than ever to be a Ugandan. we went for breakfast and guess who we meet (or who met us) … the Tunisians. i cant think of any BULLIES like the ugandan women: we psyched them out and really played on their minds (well done girls). we heaped our plates with food (that we did not even eat but it still sent a message across - we were hungry) then as the Tunisians started to leave, we all stood up from our table at the same time making a racket with our chairs and marched off to our rooms before they could move a muscle ... we were reliably informed by the waitresses that it had scared the hell out of them. As we got ready for the game ... i could see the win in everyone's eyes. We played the game of our lives and we WON and cried happy tears to DUBAI.

I am so grateful to everyone who dedicated their time, resources and everything to help UGANDA REACH THE WORLD CUP not forgetting my coaches DAVID MUTAKA (MUTAKS) AND SEGUYA (SOGGIE) - you guys are the best. LOVE YOU AND GOD BLESS.

MY DEAR TEAMMATES I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU TO CONTINUE WITH THE JOURNEY. WE HAVE TO REACH OUR DESTINATION, WE CAN’T STOP ON THE WAY ... LETS GO ON GIRLS ... WE CAN TAKE THE WORLD CUP. GOD WAS, IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE ON OUR SIDE. I AM SO PROUD TO BE PART OF THE TEAM: WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN UGANDA. I LOVE YOU ALL, TAKE CARE AND REMEMBER "SEX ONLY AFTER WORLD CUP” ... HAHAHAHA.

Charlotte Mudoola

Charlotte Mudoola
2 August 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Charlotte says … before the games I was so nervous that on Wednesday I was unable to eat and even got a fever. I was still at home then so my mum used all kinds of tricks to make me eat. Knowing that I fear I.Vs like crazy she tried to scare me that I would be fed through an I.V if I refused to eat. She even had to check my plate to ensure that I had finished my food. Meeting up with the girls for the evening training session kind of calmed me down. Training was so great that for I moment I forgot about the butterflies.

On Thursday morning I got the worst feeling ever that I lost my appetite. I tried to force breakfast down my throat but I did not succeed: I could not eat anything. Throughout Thursday and Friday I found it hard to eat because I kept thinking about the games that would determine uganda’s fate of qualifying for their first world cup. my roommate (brenda) and I kept waking up on Friday night as we were so nervous about the next day.

Saturday
Wow! Saturday was crazy for me especially before the game against Tunisia. The first games against Zimbabwe and Botswana were not so tough apart from the fact that I missed most of my conversions. I felt so bad but my kicking coach (Helen) was not disappointed, she kept encouraging me and she believed in me. Before the Tunisia game I was all fired up and wanted to butn everything that came my way. I mostly wanted the Tunisian winger (“the acholi”) and their centre (“superstar”). Unfortunately I did not finish the game because I got concussed and blacked out when making a big tackle. At least I prevented a try although everything is “blick” and just stars (I don’t remember and know what happened). When I regained consciousness I started asking connie (our team doc) what happened and what I was doing in the ambulance. Once I found out that we had lost, I cried and started asking for my teammates. Helen and Christine came to the ambulance to get me and I started crying again when I saw them. Christine told me to stop crying and to be strong. it was hard to stop crying but at some point we needed to think about the semifinal. I thought at that moment that we would be playing south Africa in the semifinal but we later found out that we were actually going to meet Tunisia again. that made me happy and I was determined to hit them and carry on where I had left off. I was so sure that I would play the semifinal on Sunday and was so determined and psyched up that I was not bothered about how severe my head injury was. Brenda kept waking me up at night to drink water saying that it would help me recover and that I would be fine the next day. I drank the water like a disciplined child. I think I drank about 8 litres of water in phases that night.

Sunday
I went to helen’s room early in the morning and asked her for her spare head gear which she gave to me. I put it on and slept in it so as to get used to it. I had never worn head gear before. She later strapped my ankle and I was so excited and pumped up. When it was time to leave the hotel, I packed my playing gear and was actually in time for everything. When we reached kampala rugby club I started changing into my warm up gear and then … boom … the coach and connie told me that I was not going to play that day. I felt like my world was crumbling and almost got concussed again from the shock. I could not believe I was going to miss our most important game of the tournament. Tears were in my eyes but Christine asked me not to cry. To make me feel better she promised me that the team was going to play hard for me and the game would be dedicated to me. I admit it sort of helped calm me down but I still wanted to play that game. I finally had to accept the fact that I was not going to play but despite that I had a good feeling that we were going to win. Watching the semi final from the side was torture for me. It reached a point where I put an arm around kyoita’s neck and started dragging her along the line. I was so nervous that I felt my heart drop to my pants. I was so happy when Helen tackled “acholi” so hard, twice (thank you Helen for tackling her. It felt good. It felt like I was doing it).

After
When the ref blew the whistle I could not believe it and ran onto the pitch like a mad woman on crystal meth (not sure what that feels like but I can only imagine). I wanted to cry but noticed most of my teammates were crying so I figured I needed to hold back my tears so I could comfort them. It was the greatest feeling ever, though I could not believe it. I just wanted to scream for everyone to hear plus the deaf and the dead. We had qualified for the “WORLD CUP”.

Final thoughts
I was glad to be a part of that team. I agree with Helen – it was the best team I have ever played with. And now one journey is over and we are about to start the second and final journey. It will be tough and hectic but I know we can make it.

WORLD CUP READY OR NOT, UGANDA IS COMING.

Prossy Nakakande

Prossy Nakakande
5 March 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Prossy says … I always enjoyed the 7’s training sessions. Unlike the 15s sessions, the 7s sessions were more of action thatn talking. There was something new to learn from each session: new moves, skills, abilities, … (interesting). Based on fitness and speed I was confident that I would make it on the 14 (wo)man provisional squad but the position I was training for demamded for more than just that. Confidence and skills as a scrumhalf are very vital. Anyway, I took each day as it comes, so I patiently waited for the dreaded weekend of the world cup qualifiers.

We reported into camp (hotel equatoria) on Wednesday 17th September and all was good. I developed serious 'rugby cramps' (does such a thing exist?) on Thursday morning. I woke up at 5.30am and this huge cloud of rugby was driving me nuts. I could not go back to sleep so I dived on the couch until time for breakfast. I was so relieved after the morning training session when the 'rugby cramps' disappeared for good.

Friday 19th was high and fly for me. On Saturday 20th September, I felt like a winner already as I was confident. I substituted Helen in the game against Botswana and just after getting onto pitch I had to make a big tackle. Unfortunately as Christine came to ruck she collided with me and I got a nasty head knock. The earth made 2 revolutions per second instead of its usual 1 revolution in 366days. Day time stars danced in front of my eyes and I was unable to continue with the days games in that state.

Our final game on Saturday was against Tunisia. It is not everyday that a man shows emotion but as mutaks urged us to play our hearts out he unconsciously slid from the chair on which he was sitting until he ended up on his knees on the ground where he stayed until his speech was done. Then soggy said this prayer full of everything we could have thought of asking for from God at that particular moment. I felt so useless sitting on that bench because even when charlotte got concussed I could not be played. We lost 12 – 05 and mutaks was speechless. Soggy tried to tell girls to forget about the loss that our dream was still within reach. Rumour had it that we would play south Africa in the semifinal and although they were ranked number 1 in Africa I thought that they had not played anything more than ordinary rugby so I knew we could take them on. It would be either them or us. Tight stuff.

The silence and sadness in our camp made my mind go blank. When our semi final was confirmed, we were to meet Tunisia again, girls had to shake themselves out of their numb state. It seemed like an uphill task to beat a team that we had just lost to but girls slowly gained determination and the urge to correct their mistakes and have their revenge on the tunis. God could not have blessed the team more when he made those mutaks and soggy our coaches. If not for me and my country, I felt that it was up to me and the rest of the team to reward these guys by qualifying for the world cup. seriously I did not care much about the loss to Tunisia for I knew the decider was yet to come, be it S.A, Kenya or whoever. I had that much confidence in my teammates and I already felt like a winner so I said a silent prayer to God and asked Him for special blessings for our team. The coach’s condition had me more worried than the rival teams did. Mutaks could pace for miles and miles in a 5 metre space. To me his face said a desparate,’I don’t know what else to do.’ And it was only God and time that would revive him.

On Sunday, I was deemed fit enough to play although not a full game. I came on for harriet in the second half of the semifinal. When I made a big tackle on the Tunisia winger that had been causing problems the entire tournament, my soul said, ‘for mutaks & soggy, for charlotte and to dubai’. I did not care if the Tunisians hogged the ball the whole game as long as they never broke through our defence line. After the final whistle, I thanked God and the first people I hugged were charlotte, mutaks, soggy and then the rest followed. Of course a juicy hug for Helen: she played hardest and also taught me all the rugby I know.

Now we call ourselves ‘world cup material’ and it feels very good to have teammates to share the joy with. I am very proud to be part of the rugby lady cranes squad that qualified for the 2009 7’s world cup and at this point ‘sky is the limit! Come S.A, then Dubai, fly lady cranes!’

Fortunate Irankunda

Fortunate Irankunda
20 May 1983
Height: 5’2
Weight: 83.5kg

Fortunate says … it feels so good to be a national team player although it is not easy to be one. It was one Sunday after Elgon cup that I (face visible in picture) was informed by the UWRA chairperson that I was to join the national 7s team for training. To me it was strange because I was so sure that I could only play 15’s since I was benched in my club during the 7’s league because of my unfitness and laziness. I thought my club coach wanted me to join the 7’s national team training to improve on my fitness. To my surprise we trained the whole week without hearing any word from her. It bothered me as she is my role model: she inspires me, encourages me, picks me up when I am down all because she wants me to be a very good rugby player. This time round she did not "spoon feed" me but left me on my own to see whether I could stand on my own two feet. I did not want to disappoint so I kept pushing. 7’s rugby is very tough: there was too much running, hill work, steps at lugogo ooooooh it was not a joke. Pam and jero kept encouraging me to hang in there and that I would be able to make it. as I became more confident that I could be a good 7s players I was able to put in my all and things became a bit easier.

One of my greatest moments was when mutaks read out the last 14 and I was on that list. I felt really great and proud to be on it and started to see myself on that plane to dubai. I was blessed to make it to the final 12 woman squad and when you are blessed you carry those blessings everywhere. My rugby background also helped as the person I look up to and who "brought me up" in rugby made sure that I yielded good fruits.

In my mind, the days starting running so fast and we were fast forwarded to just before dubai. Friday was checking in at the airport, Saturday was going through immigration and having our passports stamped and the flight was on Sunday. The processing (i.e training) to get that final stamp was not easy but somehow i made it. But back to reality. We checked into hotel equatoria on Wednesday night and I think that’s when it hit most of us that we were representing Uganda and we stood a good chance of actually qualifying for the world cup.

Sunday 21st September after 3pm is a moment I will never forget. Jesus ashamed the devil and I felt so great and proud. I am sure that those who doubted that I would ever be a 7s player wished they were in my shoes. Too many people are used to getting things on a silver platter and forget that to get the best results one has to sweat. From residues to becoming world cup material is a wonderful feeling and I pray that God gives me the strength and energy to keep fit so that the journey to dubai becomes easier for me.

Great thanks to those who have worked tirelessly to make me the way I am i.e. my 7s coaches (david mutaka, soggy, dr Arthur kwizera), my team managers jero and pam, dr connie who worked on my injuries, my club mates (brenda and prossy), the entire 7’s squad (charlotte, aalliya, rose, winnie, christine, yogi, kyoita and kayonjo) and not forgetting my motherly role model & club coach – miss Helen buteme.

Irene Namapii, Chairperson of the Uganda Women’s Rugby Association

How Irene felt before, during and after the qualifiers ... A few months before the qualifiers, I felt that we deserved to qualify because of our no. 2 ranking after S.A in Africa. Our only real threat was Tunisia. 3-4 weeks to the qualifiers, I felt that our chances would no longer be dead sure if the training sessions were not regular and if we did not get financial backing. I was really worried especially about Tunisia as they had thorough preparation plans and the fact that Kenya had brought in their men's 7s experts. 2 weeks to the games, my confidence in the team returned as I watched their training sessions and saw girls putting their bodies on the line in games against Ugandan local men’s 2nd tier clubs. Alas, exactly one week before the event, in Jinja on the sunday, I saw my dreams collapse before me, when there was serious tension in the camp. Thankfully this was sorted out and the girls rallied together and my confidence in them was restored. During the tournament, we played well, but Tunisia and S.A worried me. I was really heartbroken when we failed to use our chances to score on Saturday afternoon and ended up losing to Tunisia. However, by saturday evening, after crying about their loss the girls pulled themselves together and promised to win the semifinal. I was then sure that we were going to qualify, especially after I learnt that we would meet Tunisia again. When we beat Tunisia, I was in a daze and was one of the fans that ran onto the pitch after the game dancing and hugging the players. even though I celebrated with the team and the fans, the excitement of qualifying hit me the next day and continued for the whole week. I’ve been celebrating the whole week and it will be hard to put my feet back on the ground.

Job well done lady cranes and the lady cranes management team.

Aalliya Adania

Aalliya Adania
24 April 1988
Height: 5’4
Weight: 68.5kg

Aalliya says ... On Friday I was so nervous that I could not sleep. My roommate (fortunate) slept early so I went to winnie’s room and we stayed up quite late chatting to calm our nerves. Unfortunately for me, winnie fell asleep in the middle of our conversation and her roommate (kayonjo) was already dreaming. I went back to my room but after several minutes of tossing and turning I got out of bed and walked up and down in the corridor outside our rooms. I eventually tired out and went back to winnie’s room and crawled underneath her blankets and went to sleep. I woke up again at about 4.00am and returned to my room. i switched on the tv and danced to keep my mind off rugby. strangely enough I had a really huge appetite at breakfast and my teammates could not believe the amount of food I had stacked on my plate.

By the time we got to the pitch on Saturday, I was ready for anything and was sure that God would guide us to victory. When prossy got injured against Botswana, I went on to substitute her and almost scored a try. That white line was right in front of me but someone held onto my shorts and I could not move forward however hard I pumped my legs. Christine was right behind me supporting so I popped the ball to her and she scored. It was a great moment for me.

We lost to Tunisia in our pool game and that pissed me off cause we no longer had a 100% chance of qualifying for the world cup. i thought we might meet south Africa in the semi final and in that case it was a 50 – 50 chance. Either one of us could win that game. When the organisers said that we would meet Tunisia again in the semi final, I started smelling the world cup because I knew there was no way that we would lose to Tunisia again. I slept at peace and woke up on Sunday feeling victorious.

The semi final was a tense encounter and it was even worse watching it from the bench. I (visible in picture) cried when the final whistle went and it was all too much for me. My teammates – helena, harriet, charlotte, brenda, yogi, christine, prossy, rose, mary and winnie – and of course myself are all heroines while mutaks and soggy are heroes.

Cheers lady cranes and the big one to God the Almighty.

feelings

before i close this blog, i'll post feelings of members of the world cup bound squad about the whole qualification process.

Relief

I was so relieved when it was all over. I was finally able to break my 8 and a half month alcohol fast and get back some semblance of a social life. I had dedicated all my time to my job and rugby and deserted all my friends (I wonder if we will recognise each other now). We have a 2 week break from rugby so I no longer need to strap my ankles and shoulder. Although putting on the strapping was fine – taking it off that was a problem. It was an extremely painful experience and I had to go through that on an almost daily basis as I could not run or kick without strapping, even if I wore sneakers.

We were only four experienced 7’s players in the squad but as a team we knew each others strengths and weaknesses and made sure we covered our weaknesses while exploiting our strengths. This was surely the best national team that I have ever played in. I am so happy that the team that a lot of people wrote off as being too inexperienced justified mutaks’ and soggy’s belief in us and we have achieved what no other Ugandan sports team has ever managed to achieve.

women’s rugby in Uganda is now the highest achieving sport and we have given the young female rugby players a goal and set a standard for them.

To our fans, our families and friends who have stood by us, the Uganda rugby union, the Uganda women’s rugby association, dr connie, the 7’s management team and our unwavering sponsors – ICEMARK – a big thank you. We would never have got this far without you.

and now, our journey is not over yet. Although we’ve been given a break, when we resume training it will be tougher than what we went through for the qualifiers. we now have a bigger stage to perform on and a larger audience.

DUBAI AND THE WORLD, HERE WE COME!

Do or die

Sunday 21st September: charlotte woke me up early in the morning to ask if she could borrow my spare head gear. I did not have the heart to tell her that she was not going to play. connie had said her concussion was severe and she needed at least 3 weeks and possibly longer before she resumed playing. I gave her the head gear and went back to sleep. She came back later wearing the head gear and asked me to strap her ankle. I got tape from connie and strapped her ankle. We were told not to tell charlotte that she was not going to play. connie said she would find the right moment to break the news to her. charlotte spent the whole morning wearing the head gear so that she could get used to it. It was sadly comical.

We left the hotel at 12.30 and instead of going to kyadondo rugby club we went to kampala rugby club to warm up away from the distractions of the home crowd and our Tunisian opponents. At 2.30 we arrived at kyadondo rugby club: our game was at 3. by the time we (in red) got onto pitch for our semifinal we knew that we were going to win. In attack, I still had to play at fly half while winnie and kayonjo kept alternating between centre and wing. In defence, kayonjo would go to flyhalf, winnie to centre while I would got to the wing to neutralise the dangerous Tunisian winger. Our plan worked and we held the Tunisians (in white) in their half for the first half. We scored a try through Christine that I converted for us to take the 07 - 00 lead. Once again we wasted try scoring opportunities but we put in big tackles and it reached a point that the Tunisians did not want to be caught with possession and their winger was unable to penetrate our defence. Even after Brenda was sent off in the second half they were unable to capitalise on their advantage. When the referee blew the final whistle, the pitch was invaded by ecstatic Ugandans. Players were lifted shoulder high and it took 10 minutes for the tournament organisers to clear the pitch so the other games could go on. We had made history: our hard work had paid off and we were going to dubai.

We played the final against south Africa and although we had thrown everything we had into the game against Tunisia we still put up a good fight against our southern opponents. we turned over almost all the south African scrums but did not use our chances effectively. Even after one of the south Africans was sin binned we still failed to score. The south Africans on the other hand maximised on their chances and scored 2 tries in each half. The final score was 24 – 00.

day 1

Saturday 20th September: I did not have breakfast and I felt sick. I strapped my ankles as well as charlotte and prossy’s and took my time doing it to calm my nerves. Connie, our team doc, strapped my right shoulder then offered to give me a jab to keep the pain at bay. I warned her to keep needles away from me if she wanted me in the right frame of mind to play.

We got to the tournament venue (kyadondo rugby club) at midday and there was a nice big crowd. Ugandans had shown up in big numbers to support us. We were either going to make history as uganda’s first ever world cup bound team or we would end up on the huge pile of Ugandan sporting failures. We were under huge pressure to succeed and we all felt it. More so the senior players (charlotte, christine, winnie and i) who had the rookies looking up to us.

Our union had got us brand new kit and it looked good – it looked better than the men’s kit – and we stood tall. Our first game was against Zimbabwe and they did not present to us much of a challenge. I was playing on the wing but winnie (who was playing centre) and I kept switching positions in attack to spice up our attacking moves. We beat Zimbabwe 30 - 00. the Botswana game was just as easy and we came off the pitch with a 48 – 00 win.

The much anticipated clash was our game against Tunisia and it was the last game of the day. We kept the Tunisians in their 22 so the first half of the game but squandered so many try scoring opportunities. Charlotte got concussed after making a big tackle so I had to switch from the wing to flyhalf while winnie (with ball in picture) went to the wing and kayonjo came in at centre. We went into half time tied at 0 – 0. early on in the second half I scored out wide but twisted my ankle slightly in the process. Our number one kicker (charlotte) was off and I could not kick at that moment so Christine attempted the conversion and missed. We were 5 – 0 up. a break in concentration had the tunisian flying winger scoring a try between the posts. The conversion was missed and the score was 5 -5. in the last 2 minutes, the Tunisian captain was sent off for a professional foul and although we put the Tunisians under pressure we knocked on in their 5 and the Tunisians scored off the scrum after collecting a deep kick over our heads. This time round the conversion was good and the Tunisians won the game 12 – 05. we were devastated and there was not a dry eye in the team. Mutaks and soggy had a hard task trying to lift our spirits. The top 4 teams were reseeded after day 1, south Africa has scored more tries than Tunisia so were number 1. we had scored more tries than Kenya so were seed 3. south Africa were to meet Kenya again (seed 1 versus seed 4) while we also met Tunisia again (seed 2 versus seed 3) in the semifinals. We went to sleep after planning how to exact revenge on the Tunisians.

Final touches

Wednesday 17th – Friday 19th September: we checked into hotel equatorial after our Wednesday training session. We found the Tunisians already settled in and at home. we went through our moves on Thursday morning and afternoon and did the final touches on Friday morning. After the Friday session, we had to go through the ice bath. Soggy insisted we all had to get in for one minute. he told the faint hearted to do it in sets of 15 seconds. Winnie and aalliya each did one and a half minutes at one sitting. Fortunate did one minute at one sitting then later got back in and did 2 minutes. Yogi, prossy and rose did their one minute with minimum fuss while Christine did hers in 4 sets of 15 seconds. Kyoita, Brenda, charlotte, kayonjo and I provided the usual drama. kayonjo put in her legs for 5 seconds then got out while Charlotte and kyoita immersed their bodies for 10 seconds then got out while shedding tears. The team tried to convince me that the ice would do my ankles and shoulder a world of good. I sniffed my disbelief and tearfully eyed the ice bath. Brenda looked ready to collapse and also refused to get in. soggy eventually gave up trying to persuade the two of us and kayonjo to get in and kyoita and charlotte to complete their 3 sets of 15 seconds. we went back to the hotel and spent the afternoon relaxing (I got straight into a hot tub of water) and watched dvds of men’s IRB 7s series games for inspiration.

south africa arrived early on friday morning, while zambia around lunch time. kenya, zimbabwe and botswana arrived in the evening. cote d’ivoire and madagascar pulled out at the last minute so a Uganda A team had to assembled so that the teams could be divided into 2 pools of 4. we had our old adversaries tunisia, debutants botswana and zimbabwe. we knew our toughest game would be Tunisia. they had finances that we did not have and had camped in france for one week and then in south Africa for another week before coming to Uganda. the south africans had been touring the world taking part 7's tournaments gasint world class teams . We had camped in jinja (uganda) for 2 days prior to the tournament. All of a sudden our preparations seemed inadequate ...

final 12

Tuesday 16th September:

Aalliya Adania (Rangers)
24 April 1988
Height: 5’4
Weight: 68.5kg

Winnie Atyang (Thunderbirds)
27 September 1985
Height: 5’7
Weight: 71.5kg

Helen Buteme (Black Panthers)
27 May 1980
Height: 5’4
Weight: 54kg

Fortunate Irankunda (Black Panthers)
20 May 1983
Height: 5’2
Weight: 83.5kg

Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (Thunderbirds)
22 January 1984
Height: 5’2
Weight: 59.5kg

Brenda Kayiyi (Black Panthers)
11 February 1987
Height: 5’1
Weight: 55.5kg

Harriet Kayonjo (Thunderbirds)
12 December 1972
Height: 5’5
Weight: 57kg

Christine Kizito (Thunderbirds) – Captain
16 November 1975
Height: 5’9
Weight: 101.5kg

Mary Kyoita (Rangers)
19 April 1986
Height: 5’0
Weight: 49kg

Charlotte Mudoola (Rangers)
2 August 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Prossy Nakakande (Black Panthers)
5 March 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Josephine Namayega (Thunderbirds)
15 September 1979
Height: 5’8
Weight: 76kg

Coaches: David Mutaka and Robert Seguya
Team manager: Jeroline Akubu
Team doctor: Dr. Connie Olwit

Aalliya, Fortunate, Rosenburg, Brenda, Prossy and Josephine (Yogi) get their first 7’s caps while Mary gets her first ever cap.

rumour has it that Tunisia arrives tomorrow.

we check into hotel equatoria tomorrow so this will be my last entry until after the tournament.

3 days to go.

final trials/build up

Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th September: our final trial games and build up. now we wait for the real thing.

no training on monday. we resume on tuesday.

7 days to go

Friday 12th September: game plan, game plan, game plan. was a good session. at the start, the weather looked dodgy but at least it held until we finished training. hope it holds for the tournament too. in my opinion, there is nothing uglier than wet 7’s.

we go to jinja tomorrow for a 2 day camp.

Ice bath and the 14

Wednesday 27th August – Wednesday 10th September: fitness, contact drills, games and game plan (defence and attack). along the way, robert seguya (soggy) joined the coaching team as mutaks’ co-coach - he’s played lots of 7’s for uganda. training has been going well except the deadly boda boda (joan andika) and no nonsense asha sonko are both injured and are unlikely to recover in time for the tournament.

after a hillwork session with doc the dreaded ice bath reared its ugly head on wednesday (10th sept). it provided comedy depending on which way one looked at it. the ice bath is supposed to help with quick recovery and one has to get in up to the neck and stay there for between 40 seconds to one minute (sheer madness if you ask me). anyway, we had one prior to the elgon cup (which we lost) in august as a 15’s team and charlotte and i made a big production about not getting into the ice. tears were shed but eventually charlotte got in for about 10 seconds however i escaped. after a long struggle, kayonjo (in picture with ball) got in and afterwards swore that people wanted to kill her ... this time round, other actresses wrote themselves into the icebath comedy script: kyoita and brenda (2 rookies) were dragged kicking and screaming into the showers while kayonjo took off into the night faster than usain bolt. charlotte and i tried appealing to docs sweet nature and came up with all sorts of allergies to cold water but he was having none of it. in the end, charlotte, kyoita and i jumped in together screaming blue murder and chanting ‘we can do it, we can do it’ then got out after 10 seconds yelling that we could not. doc was not at all impressed and ordered us back in. after lots of drama, we completed our 40 seconds in sets of 10. brenda got into the icebath looking like she was going for a funeral and did about 20 seconds in sets of 10 before doc’s heart softened and he let her go. as for kayonjo, she re-emerged from her hiding place in time for the team supper …

after the team supper, mutaks read out the provisional squad of 14 – he said the final cut will be on 17th.

The 14

Aalliya Adania (Rangers)
Winnie Atyang (Thunderbirds)
Stella Bakole (Thunderbirds)
Helen Buteme (Black Panthers)
Fortunate Irankunda (Black Panthers)
Rachael Kakaire (Thunderbirds)
Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (Thunderbirds)
Brenda Kayiyi (Black Panthers)
Harriet Kayonjo (Thunderbirds)
Christine Kizito (Thunderbirds)
Mary Kyoita (Rangers)
Charlotte Mudoola (Rangers)
Prossy Nakakande (Black Panthers)
Josephine Namayega (Thunderbirds)

Back to 7's

Wednesday 20th – Monday 25th august: getting used to 7’s again. working a lot on ball handling and attacking moves and just getting to know each other and how we play. not done much on defence yet.

break from 7's

Wednesday 6th august: we went through circuit training with doc. agility ladders, slalom poles, hitting ruck pads, hopping over tackle bags, bupees, shuttle runs. Our last fitness session (actually our last 7’s session) before we come back from elgon cup then he’ll step it up a lot. eeks!

would have been ...

Monday 4th August: we would have been preparing to head to South Africa this week if they had not cancelled the tournament. griping aside we worked on attacking plays. 2 girls from lira joined us today. they are here to try out for places on the 7’s team. mutaks took us through a light session because we have been having crazy fitness sessions with doc and the 15 aside training has been tough as well. we’ll get back to heavy stuff after the elgon cup (16th august).

Running variations

Wednesday 30 July: we ran the whole session: different variations of 150 metre sprints then did fire(wo)man’s lifts and piggy backs. some crab walks as well.

no one fainted, collapsed or threw up.

51 days until the qualifiers.

attacking skills

Monday 28 July: mutaks took us through another light session. 2 on 2, 3 on 2, then down to scrimmaging and open play. the emphasis was on attack.

we’ll have another tough fitness session with doc on wednesday.

The 16

the 16 players that mutaks and doc will be working with for the qualifiers were named:

Aalliya Adania (Rangers)
Sauda Adiru (Thunderbirds)
Joan Andika (Rangers)
Winnie Atyang (Thunderbirds)
Stella Bakole (Thunderbirds)
Helen Buteme (Black Panthers)
Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (Thunderbirds)
Brenda Kayiyi (Black Panthers)
Harriet Kayonjo (Thunderbirds)
Christine Kizito (Thunderbirds)
Mary Kyoita (Rangers)
Charlotte Mudoola (Rangers)
Prossy Nakakande (Black Panthers)
Josephine Namayega (Thunderbirds)
Dorothy Nekesa (Thunderbirds)
Asha Sonko (Thunderbirds)

Coach: David Mutaka
Fitness coach: Dr Arthur Kwizera
Team manager: Jeroline Akubu

sadly happy

Wednesday 23 July: doc again. we started off with a new version of touch rugby. everyone had to piggy back (carry someone on their back) someone their weight. all the usual touch rugby rules applied with the additional one that the attacking team would lose the ball if the feet of person being carried touched the ground. the person being carried was not allowed to do anything – they could not touch the ball or the ball carrier. i never thought we could run that fast with a dead weight on our backs. fun stuff.

the fun over we got down to serious business. tiptoeing in sprint mode through the agility ladders, sidestepping slalom poles, hopping over tackle bags (on both feet), lifting tractor tyres, tackling tackle bags, a million shuttle sprints between the 22 and try line … i feel it’s getting easier though.

there was a bit of drama this time round: asha (in picture with ball) had not been feeling well and did not tell doc. she decided to push herself and collapsed near the close of the session – not in a dead faint though: her legs just gave way and down she went. everyone rushed to her side – not sure whether it was out of concern or to get a breather. doc said he was happy in a sad way that she had collapsed and he would give her a monetary reward for her fighting spirit. i get the feeling that a lot more girls will be collapsing during training.

handling drills

Monday 21 July: nice light session we had with mutaks. ball handling drills. passing, passing, passing. attack/defence drills: 2 versus 1, 2 versus 2, 3 versus 2 and 3 versus 3. nothing too strenuous.

sweat

Sunday 20 July: yet another morning to mid afternoon fitness session with doc. as we are all under an alcohol ban none of us were suffering from a hangover but what made the session tougher was we had all been playing the last 7’s tournament of the UWRA 7’s league on saturday so our bodies were still aching. doc keeps telling us that what he takes us through is not out of malice but for our own good. it’s hard to believe him when you’ve been sprinting, hitting bags, sprinting, rucking, sprinting for 2 and a half hours in the sun. although we took in lots of water and energade in between none of us developed a stitch as we sweated out the fluid within 5 minutes of taking it in.

oh, as a by the way, black panthers (the club i play for) won the 7’s league.

quads and butts

Wednesday 16 July: fitness session with doc. he promised to make us run until one of us threw up. we looked sufficiently horror stricken so he went on to say it was a joke. ha! no one threw up but it was a tough session.

apparently our (women’s) quadriceps are underdeveloped as opposed to our (in my opinion, especially Ugandan women) buttock muscles which are well developed. doc wants to strengthen our quadriceps so … we did shuttle runs & sprints, did some more sprinting, we sprinted, and eventually we sprant!

oh and then the bad news, south africa has cancelled its tournament …

kickoffs

Monday 14 July: a really really cold day. warmed up with Fijian touch then mutaks got us working on game plan - kickoffs actually. used up the rest of the session then wound down with some fitness, situps and push ups. my stomach still hurts ..

rainy wish

Sunday 13 July: morning session at 10am. Now I can say it was a great session: Then I was ready to kill someone. Doc took us through something equivalent to torture – 10, 20, 50 and 100 metre sprints; shuttle runs, resistance runs, hitting ruck pads etc. It was hot hot hot - the midday sun was not kind to us – I almost (almost) wished for rain. The heat drained all our energy and yet doc kept urging us to sprint. By the time we were done at 1.30 charlotte could not spell her name …

quiet

Wednesday 10 July: dull weather but at least no rain. mutaks had us warm up with a game of touch rugby then watched from the side as doc put us through a session of fitness training: resistance running to the halfway line, sprints to the halfway line, sprints to the 22, shuttle runs, more sprints … each set of running drills for 7 minutes i.e. one 7’s half. he threw in pushups, star jumps and crab walks as well. girls who usually have a lot to say during training were very quiet for some reason. they only found their voices halfway through the warm down stretch.

return to 7's training

monday 7 july: fitness session with mutaks. running: short sprints, long sprints, crashing into ruck pads ...

his words, "you cannot hide from it. in 7's you must run." or "7's is a hard game. that's why some of us retired."

NO boots on wednesday.

preps for SA international tournament

It's been a long long break from Lady Cranes 7's training. 15's training for the Elgon Cup international fixture against Kenya (which we won) had taken over but now it's back to the important business at hand - 7's. Despite that minor inconvenience (the Elgon Cup) we've been having regular 7's tournaments over the last couple of months with Thunderbirds, Black Panthers and Rangers taking part. A couple of exciting new players have shown their form. We'll see what the selection panel and the coaches make of it all.

For now, we are preparing for an international 7's tournament in East London, South Africa, from 7th to 9th August. That will be followed by the World Cup Qualifiers in September. Exciting stuff to come ...

easter break

no training from wednesday 19 march to wednesday 26 march. the lady cranes have a week long easter break so the lady crane blogger will be on holiday 'til then.

enjoy your easter folks.

Prossy says ...

Prossy Nakakande, a recently qualified Industrial Engineer, and a new call up to the Lady Cranes squad has this to say … In Ugandan sports disappointments never seem to end. Seriously now, who of us doesn’t wish we were properly facilitated to make it to Tunisia? Ok, so let me sour grape for consolation. It’s Easter season and I’d definitely rather spend it at home with family and friends than with a Nation of Strangers. So come on girls, let’s look on the bright side (is there one?) It’s a busy year ahead of us and the best is yet to come.

On my part things couldn’t get better: I’ve just graduated from university (another addition to Uganda’s unemployed community) so rather than sinking into the despair commonly associated with jobseekers I’ve made playing rugby my part time job. No, I’m not paid. I’m part time on a voluntary basis. That aside it’s every sportswoman’s dream to represent their country and I have the heart, the love, the spirit and the will, throw in some skill and what more do you need?

Meanwhile as some of us wonder when our weekends will be given back to us (free of rugby) so we can hit the Entebbe beaches to chill out with our pals, others like Helen can’t believe the extent to which the alcohol - free horizon extends - right into 2009. That’s so far away … for the last two months it’s been almost impossible to catch her smiling on a Saturday evening.

To all the Lady Cranes, hide away the disappointment and let’s fly …

Dot speaks up again ...

Dot the rabbit says ... We were fully charged and ready to take the good news (or bad news) on who was on the team to Tunisia (or who was remaining behind). We got bad news alright and it was that we were all not going to Tunisia. We were so disappointed - all our hard training (muscle pulls, collapsing during roadwork … ) - but we were soon cheered by the news that we were going to host the world cup qualifiers and on top of that we had been invited for a 7’s tournament in S.A in August. There were also chances of an Elgon Cup encounter (15 aside) against Kenya.

To me the cancelled trip is a big blessing in disguise because we now have more time to prepare and get used to each other (I need to console myself). So girls for those who are still disappointed, heads up, let’s keep training hard and working on our personal fitness: Brace yourselves because although we are the Lady Cranes we will be more like a pride of hungry lionesses. We’ll meet on this page again. God Bless you all.

Brenda says ...

At 21 years, Brenda Kayiyi is the second youngest call up to Lady Cranes but she’s the hardest tackler on the squad. She says … Monday was a crazy day. We played a game and Helen who happens to be a rugby referee was reffing. At first my team had good attacking moves and we were also defending well. I was really enjoying it all especially the tackles but we somehow, along the way, we switched off and things stopped working out. I was so surprised when Charlotte gave me a handoff: I did not expect it and went flying backwards - into the mud! As for the ref! Ha! What a ref! When she saw that my team was being whipped, she stopped reffing and starting chasing after the opponents to tackle them!

chicken step and disappointment

monday 17 march: wet muddy pitch! yuck! we warmed up with fijian hold. instead of touching the ball carrier we had to hold her firmly so that counted as a tackle. we had a blast. i kept out of the mud. i attacked and defended on the dry side. warmed up we switched to set pieces: scrum downs, penalties, free kicks, 22 drop outs and lineouts. boda boda was doing her usual chicken run – i say chicken run ‘cos have you tried chasing after a chicken when you are about to slaughter it? the bird can sidestep and leave you flat footed. same thing with joan. she was also nicknamed boda boda ‘cos she dodges opponents the same way boda bodas dodge through kampala traffic and create mayhem. boda boda is so chaotic she confuses her own teammates: poor asha and ann who were both on her team ended up tackling each other – in the mud. aaii ya ya ya ya!!! all in all a good session. our defence is starting to work the way it should and in attack we are starting to click. still more work to do but we are definitely making progress.

we wound up with 5 metre one minute shuttle sprints then went down for our usual. 60 pressups abd sit-ups in 2 sets then the bridge. i was so proud of myself. i did 30 pressups at a go! that was the first set. the second set was not so good. i managed 20 then rested then went for the final 10. situps were all good (they’re becoming too easy) then the dreaded bridge.

training done we stretched and jero came to give us bad news while ambrose hovered in the background in case anyone fainted or something. the tunisia trip was off – despite their best efforts our union was unable to fund it. the good news was that we had a elite 7’s tournament in south africa in august to look forward to and uganda would be hosting the qualifiers in either july or september. we were all disappointed of course but in the ugandan (or should I say african) women’s world of sports such disappointments are part and parcel of our lives. there is never enough funding for our activities, so life goes on …

confused

saturday 15 march: hot, hot, hot! the early worms warmed up with the focus/coordination game then as numbers increased we moved to passing and defence drills. we went through them for an hour then mutaks took over. he split us into 2 teams and we went through set pieces and open play as well as restarts. he kept swopping players from one team to another so sometimes we’d would get confused. ann had been on my team at first then was switched but i forgot so passed the ball to her during play. charlotte took the cake though. she was on my team and at some point stesh was switched over to our team. christine kicked off and yogi received the ball and swung it to stesh who got the shock of her life when she was tackled by charlotte … haaa! priceless.

55 pushups, 55 sit-ups, bridge still at 60. HELP!!! i don’t have a stomach anymore!

mutaks and jero were meant to announce the team but they did not. it seems the trip to tunisia is still in balance. fingers crossed and breath held that the funding necessary for the team to travel will come through. i hope i don’t suffocate. after stretching we did our weights. i caught joan aka boda boda stuffing her short’s pockets with mobile phones in a bid to make herself a kilo or two heavier. ha! we all had to take off our shoes and empty our pockets before we got onto the weighing scale. joan was the lightest at 50.5kgs; christine doubled her at 101.5kgs. i was very near that – not 100kgs, i mean 50kgs.

scrummaging

friday 14 march: i warmed up early then practiced my drop kicks as the rest of the team warmed up with fijian touch. warm up done mutaks asked the forwards to go with veteran 7’s player, soggy, while he dealt with the backs. we worked on passing, realigning, understanding each other etc. for some reason we kept dropping the ball and mutaks for once actually looked annoyed. we did so many pressups as punishment.

word from the forwards was that soggy worked them to exhaustion: endless scrum downs versus each other with punishments (lots of running) dished out for the trio that did not get a good push going. from there it was scrummaging versus the scrum machine with soggy on it! if he did not feel the hit then the guilty trio was punished, that is, lots more running. tired of running the forwards opted for bigger hits and it soon became too easy for the girls so soggy added christine onto the machine to give them a lot more of a challenge. soon guys who had come to the club to enjoy a friday swallow had gathered near the touchline where the forwards were ploughing away and at first stared in open mouthed amazement as the girls did their thing then starting cheering them on for every hit.

at the end of the session mutaks informed us that the team travelling to tunisia would be selected the following day (saturday) after training. the session would be from 1pm to 3pm.

we went down for our usual: we’d clocked 50 pressups and sit-ups and the bridge still at 60. this time we did 25 pressups, then 25 sit-ups, back to pressups, then sit-ups then the bridge. it was tight going. alia gave us the first count for pressups and when she reached 18 she stuck on 18 until we almost ate her alive. yogi (in photo) took over the counting. we went through all our pressups and sit-ups then finished up with the bridge.

doc ambrose tended to girls with complaints. christine had a back injury and he took her through some exercises to assess how much pain she felt, where she felt pain and when. when she had gone through the first one she announced, “i’m not feeling so much pain but my thighs seem to be too heavy for me. it seems they are unfit.” !!!???!!!

hosts

wednesday 12 march: very long day at work so i got to training very late. i found the team doing defence - attack drills. i joined right in. the defence was looking good. the tackles solid and defenders working together all the time. attackers were hard pressed to get through. we wound up with 5 metre shuttle sprints for 2 minutes. then our usual: this time it was 45 pressups, 45 situps and bridge to the count of 60. we split the pressups into 2 sets: the first set was 25 and the second 20. it was hard going for all of us. most girls did the first 25 alright. i did 20 then struggled with the last 5. we took a 10 second break then started on the next 20. i did 4, then 5, then 4 then 7. no one managed to do the 20 flat out though some girls were pretty close. they ran out of steam at 17. our 45 pressups done, we moved to situps. we did them at one go then moved on to the bridge. aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh! enough said.

i told the team that word was going round that CAR (confederation of african rugby) had appointed us (uganda) as the hosts of the women's qualifiers and the tournament would most likely be in july. there was a dead silence: july is only 3 months away ...

mad dogs

charlotte says ... First i would like to say i was disappointed that we did not have a game on saturday. i woke up so excited that we were going to play and my energy levels were high ... quite frankly i was a nuisance and my roommate was glad to see the back of me. before we got onto the pitch to train we watched the under 20's play the over 30's in a fun game and i wished i were 4 years younger (or 6 years older) - i could have played ...

Monday was not a good day coz had this sharp pain in my hip so i really did want to go for road work but i had to. i thought i would find a way to dodge running with the really fast sprinters coz of the pain ... actually after the first sprint i thought i had succeeded hiding myself in a group that is not so fast but Christine had noticed, and picked me out of it and put me in the group i was avoiding, that is with Helen, Joan and Hadijah. Easy for her (Christine) to do that, she was injured and was watching us sweat from the side. To forget about the pain and do the sprints really well, i used my special talent ... its called"imagination." i imagined myself being chased by hungry, fierce dogs and that i had meat tied on my legs. i know that sounds crazy but i had to find a way of pushing myself and it worked. Next week i should imagine myself being a superhero, you never know i could be as fast as superman ... but for now it's back to the reality of classes. i can't imagine a way out of that.

headache

monday 10 march: 10 minute fijian touch warm up then off we jogged to the hill. stesh accidentally tackled an innocent civilian in her path and the poor woman did not know what hit her. the rest of us managed to get to the top of the hill without any incident. dot actually reached there first and was bouncing up and down all set for the sprints. however, when we walked back to the sprints starting point she looked back up the hill and developed an instant headache. add dizziness to that mix and she was flat out by the roadside holding her head. end of session for her. we split into the usual same size/same speed groups and did our 10 sprints pushing hard all the way. we felt good, speechlessly tired, but good. next we did our 10 metre 1 minute continuous sprints. hadijah (in photo) sat out to time the minute as her knee was acting up.

it was one minute this time, maybe because prior to starting charlotte had threatened to shoot her if she prolonged the minute. ambrose was on hand and i think he was happy this time round - he had 3 casualties to handle.we jogged back to the club and hit the tackle bags. there were 3 bags up: hit one bag, back peddle 5 metres, hit the next bag, back peddle etc. we did 3 sets of that. girls were quite ferocious. it was good to see. our aggression all released we got down for our usual. this time we were up to 40 pressups, 40 sit-ups and the bridge to a count of 60. we did 20 pressups first had a 5 second break then went for the other 20. i did the first 20 ok, then on the second set gave out when i still had 2 to go. alia, prossy and ann were in the same boat so we finished our 2 together. we did 40 sit-ups at a go then the dreaded bridge. this time round we counted nice and slow up to 60 and girl did it hurt! when we thought we were done christine claimed she had skipped 10 pressups so the whole team offered to keep her company. down we went and we did 14 pressups instead – 7 crossing the right foot over the left and then 7 vice versa. i don’t think christine was being honest though. she was directly opposite me and i saw her do both sets of 20. i think she just wanted to do extra pressups. she loves them! our target of 100 a day will soon be a reality.

forgiveness

saturday 8 march: women’s day. we celebrated it by training in the hot afternoon sun. we warmed up passing the ball in groups of 7 up and down the pitch. nice long passes and depth is what mutaks was looking for. after that we worked on an attack move. a couple of explanations and demonstrations later, we had the gist of it. several repetitions later, mutaks got us to try and do it against a defence. hmmh. we will probably need to work on that more next week.

mutaks asked ann to stretch us but we first started with our usual. we were up to 35 pressups, 35 situps but the bridge remained at 50. we’re targeting 100 of each by mid april. i managed 24 pressups at a go then my arms gave way. the rest of the team finished theirs and before we could move on i confessed that i still had 11 to go. i struggled to finish my 11 but only only do them 3 at a time. the team joined me to encourage me so they actually did a total of 46 pressups to my 35. sit-ups were next but those were not so bad. we finished up with the bridge and we cheated by counting too fast. we forgave ourselves though :)

mutaks asked us to carry boots and sneakers on monday. i’m starting to enjoy the hill runs, seriously, and no, the heat is not driving me nuts.

2 weeks to Tunisia. it’s approaching the end of winter there. maybe it should rain here so we can acclimatise …

cement

friday 7 march: fijian touch warm up. asha bamboozled the opposition with her trademark tossing the ball over the person coming to touch her then catching it before it hit the ground and sprinting off for the try line. is that a forward pass to oneself? hmmmh.

warmed up, we worked on beating the opponent. first it was 2 attackers versus one defender then we switched to 3 on 2 and finished up with 4 on 3. full contact. failure to score meant 10 pushups. there were some spectacular big hits and the tackles were even more so. mutaks seemed to be enjoying it. hard to know but I could see his teeth so I guess he was smiling. he called a stop to it all when seeing the ball became a bi hard. it wasn’t even dark though. i think girls have to eat more carrots and less chocolates.

mutaks asked charlotte to stretch us. she first had us on the try line doing shuttle sprints to the 5 and back for about 1 minute. before we stretched we did our usual pushups, sit-ups and bridges. 30 pushups this time round. I finished 20 a bit comfortably then the other 10 wobbling all the way. i’m still the worst at pushups though prossy is not far behind. 30 sit-ups next: halfway through i could see ann (in photo) holding her knees to pull herself up. we did the bridges to a 50 - alia was leading the count and she counted nice and slow up to 20 then as our (and her) tummy muscles starting complaining she sort of speeded up the count. on 48 though she cheekily held us there for several counts. hmmpphh. we’re well on our way to having slabs of cement in lieu of stomachs!

comfortable

wednesday 5 march: fijian touch warm up then mutaks started us on ball handling, lots of it. he counted each dropped ball then made us do situps, pressups, starjumps for them. thank goodness he forgot about bupees! after that he split us into teams and had us working on attack and defence. that went pretty much ok. still some things to be ironed out but we’ll get there. ball work done, we moved to leg work. shuttle sprints between the try line and 5 – this time for 3 minutes with no break. we all pretty much did it comfortably. tunisia looms near and mutaks says soon we’ll be doing less fitness and ballwork and more game plan. we can’t be runners up this time round.

in photo: lady cranes in tunis ‘07

standing (left to right): hadijah namuyanja, asha sonko, helen buteme, stella bakole, christine kizito, herbert wafula (coach)

kneeling (left to right): sauda adiru, charlotte mudoola, winnie atyang, rachel kakaire, joan andika

old legs, young hearts

monday 3rd march: new month, new levels of fitness. we started off with a fijian touch warm up. at the back of our minds the dreaded hill loomed but we threw ourselves into the game wholeheartedly. when yogi came on, on her first touch of the ball she threw a dummy that sent alia scampering in the wrong direction then side stepped charlotte and left her clutching air (priceless) and still had enough gas in her to make a mad dash for the try line. when we were sufficiently warm we jogged to the hill with our TM, jero. we were to do 10 sprints up the hill. our team doctor, ambrose, was on hand in case anyone fainted, or pulled a muscle or whatever. i think he was a bit disappointed: they say doctors can never really be happy unless someone needs their services ...

harriet had forgotten her sneakers but that did not get her off. hadijah lent her hers as she had a knee injury and could not do the runs. as usual we sorted ourselves into same size, same speed. rachel (in photo) had missed training the whole month of february and cited lack of fitness as a reason to pair up with ann. there were protests all round: a prop and a winger?! no way!!! we decided to run in 3’s and 4’s rather than pairs so she ended up with charlotte, asha and myself. hmmmh. yes, she was unfit …

yogi found herself sprinting with 16 year olds half her size who wanted a taste of national team training so had joined us for the session. the youngsters were fleet footed and seemed to take a devilish delight in trying to outpace yogi. her pride on the line, yogi pushed herself all the way and made sure she kept the young upstarts in their place – behind her. fortunate landed herself both the TMs as her sprinting partners. unfit they may have been but jero was a former sprinter in her younger days so fortunate found herself having to go flat out to keep up with jero. on sprint 8, fortunate was ready to throw in the towel and jero laughingly teased her that her old legs and lungs had outlasted fortunate’s youth before taking off up the hill. fortunate followed suit and for the remaining sprints she and jero were literally neck to neck.

long sprints done we did our last set of sprints - continuous 1 minute uphill/downhill sprints over about 10 metres. we worked hard, knees up but after an age we wondered if we were running a 120 second minute or the regular 60 second minute. it’s true that when you are tired time seems to crawl by but i suspect that hadijah (who was sitting out and timing us) prolonged that minute to 2 minutes. we complained that the minute was stretching out too long but she ignored us. she probably would have prolonged the ‘one minute’ further but alia and brenda looked like they were headed in her direction to strangle her so she hastily called us to a stop.

we jogged back to kyadondo rugby club and finished up with 20 pressups, 20 situps and bridges for a count of 20. i did 19 pressups without stopping. i think i was so excited that i ran out of energy to do the last one. bummer! good to know that i am not the only one who struggles with pressups: prossy reached 15 then fell flat on her face … yes, we are definitely getting fitter.

end of feb

friday 29 feb: neither mutaks nor doc were able to make it for the session so we handled it by ourselves. there are loads of scrum downs and kick offs in 7s so we focused on those the entire session – both from the attacking and from the defensive perspective. we had a 7’s club tournament the following day so we played ‘firm’ hold rather than full on contact. for every error made the entire team had to get down for 10 press ups. i’m getting better at those. soon i’ll be able to do 30 without long breaks in between. the session was short although rather intense and the month’s training was done. it's the beginning of march now and the tunis tournament is only a couple of weeks away ...

prayer

wednesday 27 feb: after our usual fijian touch warm up mutaks took us through ballwork. endless passing and realigning followed by a combined attack/defence drill. at first mutaks was unimpressed and punished dropped balls, no tries being scored and poor defending with pressups, situps and bupees. we went through the drills over and over the entire session then to wind up he switched to a bit of fitness. we did shuttle sprints between the 22 and try line for one minute (i think he forgot his rule of every fitness drill is a 7’s half i.e. 7 minutes - phew!!).

we did one more fitness drill where we ran after him as a team in whatever direction he led us then on his whistle we hit the ground face down bounced up immediately and then ran again. we had to work from one try line to other doing that. lagging behind him, not working as a team and staying on the ground longer than a second would lead to punishment i.e. more running and more hitting the ground. mutaks told us that the more tired we got the more we should talk. ha! initially we were talking but after 2 minutes the only talking was by some girls praying fervently that mutaks would get a muscle pull. didn’t we wish! it now took us longer to get up from the ground and it got harder and harder to keep in front of mutaks. christine (in photo) was next to mutaks and at one point as was she struggling to get in front of him she almost reached out and pulled him back to make her task easier. wish she had – i would have helped. after about 4 minutes we had reached the opposite 22 but we were all silent (not even a prayer), half the team was behind mutaks and we were all taking about 5 seconds on the deck (some were not even able to go to ground). mutaks responded by taking us all the way back to the halfway line!!! aaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!