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.
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.
1 comment:
hey char,
it was really cool, what u gals achieved, really cool. first team ever from uganda to qualify for a world cup.. WOW..... almost makes me wish i was on the team too.. but hey..nature wouldnt allow that. anyways sorry about the concussion, maybe itll inspire to make the winning try in the world cup...
cheers
jnk
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