My

Story

Elly

“I grew up in an extended family of around 60 people – my dad had 4 wives – all were very interested in sports, mostly in football. But, we were not allowed to play. Football was considered dangerous and a waste of time. Injuries and treatment was the biggest concern of my parents. Thus, going to play football in the neighbourhood, we would be punished to the worst extent. But in school I was always active in sports. I lived my passion even when I joined university on a government sponsorship for sport science. My love for sports made me achieve my degree and my dream of changing my parent’s perception of sport. Today, I am a football and fitness coach and they are proud of me and for what I do for our community. For example, I organise tournaments that bring people together. In communities, there are always some people using drugs or having differences. But they are put aside and people start to talk to each other thanks to these activities. They enjoy football, the competition and have fun and at the end of the day, football makes our community safe from such kind of behaviours.

In 2013, I started coaching and joined Kampala Kids League where I learned from Young Coaches of the FCSA programme. This changed my coaching in many ways. I have improved my communication skills with the kids, I am more creative in terms of using equipment, I am more respectful of physical and mental differences and especially I gained so much love and appreciation for children. It’s like I am a father or the uncle of more than 10’000 children in Uganda.

As a child, I never got the chance to learn from anyone like a coach. But we know, when you are young, you need to have direction. That’s what I want to be, a coach that help kids develop their talent, and for the less privileged, to give them love, to show them you can be short of something but there is a ground where we are all equal. No matter what kind of family you come from, on the pitch we are all the same and speak the same language.”