A very proud coach at Huracan FC Teso Uganda’s first professional tournament
2021 brought huge challenges for all of our projects. At Huracan FC Teso Uganda, by the middle of the year, the situation was almost out of hand with pregnancy rates running at 80%, many girls forced to marry by their parents and shocking numbers having been sexually abused. Police reports in the district also showed a significant increase of substance and drug abuse amongst boys.
However, as vaccination rates increased, the children restarted training in small groups supported by their eight volunteer coaches. Charles felt so grateful that out of 242 children who were previously members of Huracan FC Teso Uganda before the school closures, all of them reported back to the project except one who fell pregnant and was forced into marriage - “Our only greatest asset was that our kids still believed how football could change their lives.” And in December, both the boys and the girls had the fabulous opportunity to participate in football tournaments.
Here we hear from Charles about this extraordinary end to 2021 for the Huracan FC Teso Uganda girls.
Charles Obore, Project Leader, Huracan FC Teso Uganda - At the end of 2021, the Huracan FC Teso Uganda girls team played in their first professional tournament. Our aim was to gain some valuable experience playing against Super League and National Players and we were aiming for just one point.
We were seen as the underdogs and when we arrived at Olila High School Soroti, who were hosting the tournament, the other teams joked about our players wearing blouses and skirts instead of track suits. And when we found out that we had been drawn in the ‘group of death’, some of the team cried in despair. What a challenge we had ahead of us.
The qualifiers
Huracan FC vs Ngora TC, a team with over five professional players and one who played for the national team, this was going to be a tough first match. The girls told me before entering the field that “Ilem so ikos itaun” meaning ‘we have picked our hearts to play’. We dominated the first half of the game, leading 1 – 0 and realised we were better than our opponents but Ngora TC scored a last minute equaliser. The girls were disappointed but our mission changed, we were now aiming to qualify.
We won our second game 2 - 0 against Tita FC but lost 1 - 0 to Olila High School. These impressive results meant we finished second in the table and qualified for the knockout stage. We quickly became the talk of the town and pride of home with local radio stations covering our progress and more fans turning up to watch us play.
The knockouts
We beat Kotido FC 2 – 0 in the semi final but lost 3 – 0 to Olila High School in the final, a team that had beaten us 8 – 1 in an earlier encounter. We didn’t care about the result, we were so happy to be there! Everyone wanted to know who these little giants were!
A very proud coach
I was proud at the end of the game that our players were laughing and greeting the opposition players in a gesture of football maturity. I was also extremely humbled when the other players and coaches approached me and said, “You have built a fearless team, they are not so far from being heroes”. I could not agree more.
A surprised MVP
Ailigat Immaculate won the award of being the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. When I asked how she felt, she said, “I don’t know how I feel because I don’t know what being an MVP means”. I explained that she was the best player from the whole tournament and she couldn’t believe herself. Immaculate said the award belongs to the whole team and that without them she couldn’t have achieved it.
We achieved so much in the tournament besides just being second and having an MVP in our team. We made a name for our team and community in the region, making our parents proud and the impossible possible. Seven players also went on to secure sports scholarships to high school including two still in primary school.
Thank you to our parents, community and to all our supporters especially, The Huracan Foundation, Teach for Uganda and Teach for All for the great support. It’s because of you that we managed to achieve this. We can’t wait to see what 2022 brings!
