Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

Justine Bayigga: When Helen sent me the message about the draws I lost all my mental focus. I left home straight away and went to Kyadondo and found Rose there. We sat in the changing room waiting for other girls to come for training. I do not know much about rugby but those countries sounded scary. I could not concentrate during training and failed to run: the coaches thought I was sick. The good thing is that I was not alone. My team mates were in the same boat.

Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (in picture): on Monday 19th 2009, I stayed at home the whole day. I did not go to the gym in the morning. I wanted to give my body a rest so I did what I love doing best … sleeping. I was listening to music when I my mobile phone beeped to indicate that I had received a text message. For some reason I was reluctant to read it although I did not know the contents of the message. After a couple of minutes I checked the message and it read ‘World Cup draw group d New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Uganda.’ I fell out of my bed as I swore all the known swear words plus invented some of my own. My stomach went crazy and I hopped about my bedroom not sure what I was feeling then rushed to the toilet and stayed there for about half an hour. After that I went for training. I did not even have lunch. I was about 2 hours early for training but I could not stay in the house. I thought I was going to go mad.

Claire Anena

Training

I love the way girls are putting in their all and most people have started talking. The moves are working out and although we still have some work to do we are getting there. Team spirit is at an all time high and we just seem to get better and better. I love it.

The draws

Hmph! That draw really was not fair. South Africa and Uganda in the same pool: we are both African countries! Anyway, I think that New Zealand, Italy and South Africa are beatable. We just have to be confident.

Aalliya Adania aka Schwarzenegger

On January 19th at exactly 1449hrs I got a text message that totally confused me. I was still in bed so at first I thought that I was having a daymare. I read the message about 5 times before I understood it then started wailing. My dad happened to be at home that day and he rushed to my bedroom to find out what was wrong. I could not answer any of his questions and pushed my mobile phone into his hands. He read that message and remarked casually, ‘Ah, so you are scared.’ I was so angry that he did not seem moved that I responded, ‘Of course, I’m scared. What do you know about rugby and New Zealand?’ I stormed out of the house without eating and almost in tears. Although it was still early I went to Kyadondo Rugby Club (our training ground) where I found Justine and Rose sitting in the changing room looking very depressed. If we did not believe we are really going for the World Cup then that was a wake up call indeed.

Joan Andika aka boda boda

Training

The training we are going through is always hard and really tight. The moment I think too much about it I either lose concentration and ‘sleep’ or I freak out. Whenever I’m kitting up for training I’m wondering what the coaches have in store for us and when I get onto the pitch and see the crowd that have come to watch us train I think, ‘oh my God, we are dead. All these people to witness me messing up and getting told off by the coach.’ I get butterflies and it takes a while for me to settle down. All the same, I really love the training session especially as I feel that I keep stepping up every session and the coaches have also noticed it and have told me so. So despite the nerves and tension I’m actually enjoying myself and I look forward to each training session.

The draws

When I received the text message about the draws I could not believe that we were put in the same pool with South Africa – we are both from Africa so I had assumed we would be in different pools. Then Italy and New Zealand! I felt weak and got a stomach ache. Worse still we had training that evening. We talked about it as a team and I felt much better. Each day the confidence I had lost has rebuilt and I can see my team mates are strong once again. After all they are women just like us (bigger but still human) and we can take then on. Nothing is impossible and small nation that we are we can still strive to win that World Cup!

Camp

It rained cats and dogs on Saturday morning. Not a nice way to start the weekend. Having to wake up at 6:00am was even worse. We got to Mukono at around 9, an hour behind schedule: totally understandable because in Uganda when it rains everything comes to a standstill. We breakfasted, rested then got to the pitch at Uganda Christian Martyrs University (UCU) at 11am.

The training schedule for Saturday and Sunday was
6:00am - 7.30am – roadwork (though we missed that on Saturday because we were travelling).
7:45am – 10:45am – shower/breakfast/rest
11:00am – 1:00pm – training
1:15pm – 4:15pm – shower/lunch/rest
4:30pm – 6:00pm - training
6:15pm – 7:15pm – shower/rest
7:30pm – team talk
9:00pm - supper

Monday’s schedule was slightly different.
6:00am - 7.30am – roadwork
7:45am – 10:00am – shower/breakfast/rest
10:30am – 12:30pm – training
12:45pm – 1:00pm – game
1:15pm – shower/checkout/lunch
3:00pm – hot seat

5:00pm - left camp

The camp was great although the weather was really horrible. The rain welcomed us every morning though strangely enough it would stop to give us a chance to do our roadwork that start again when we were done. We had so much time to work on ball skills, contact skills, fitness, game plan and the all important team bonding. The roadwork was like being in boot camp – a 2 to 3 km run to a hill where we did 16 sprints then jogged back to the hotel and it was uphill most of the way. We would wind up with push-ups, sit-ups, calf raises and squats. We really pushed ourselves to the limit on the Monday roadwork session and impressed Soggy so much that he got emotional and told us that he loved us. How sweet.

Mutaks lauded us for being well brought up and behaving like ladies (the worst culprits were Joan, Prossy, Kayonjo and Charlotte) but said he did not want any of that nonsense on pitch. So he brought on the grid of pain. I think that was our best contact session yet. We were divided into teams of 5 and put in a 7 by 5 metre grid. 2 teams had to flex for the ball and try to cross over the other team’s line and ground the ball. Best of three and the loser stayed on. In such a small space containing 10 people, contact was unavoidable. It was brutal but it had it fun moments. Yogi (in picture rucking) gave Aggie a huge tackle that had Aggie squealing and calling on all her ancestors for help. Yogi was quick to apologise and started fussing over Aggie. Soggy told both of them off: Aggie for squealing and Yogi for apologising. The next time Aggie got the ball she charged through 3 people and crossed over the line; Yogi redeemed herself by tackling me and kneeling on my stomach as she turned over the ball. Justine tried to go through 2 people and was sent back a clear 2 metres and smashed into the ground and hurt her thigh. Enough to put off anyone but not our Justine she kept on going back for more punishment. The hits were big and the tackles even bigger. That grid brought out the animal in each one of us – even Joan, Prossy, Kayonjo and Charlotte forgot about being ladies and went wild. Woooooooooooo!!!! I loved it.

We were always exhausted at the end of the day but lots of girls came out of their shells and literally blossomed – especially Kayonjo and Joan: they have shed some of their reserve and are playing beautiful rugby. The entire team is playing hard and playing well. The focus is way up there and the self belief is growing. Soggy and Mutaks confessed that we are making it hard for them to choose a final team and so far they have selected 15 different sides and are still trying to select.

We had the ‘hot seat’ for coaches on Saturday night during our team talk. An individual sits in front of the team and one by one the team talks about that person’s positive and negative traits and suggestions on how to improve the negative. The ‘hot seat’ is meant to help in team bonding and it was the first time we had done it. It was a really good session. The players’ and rest of management (TM, doctor, UWRA chairperson) 'hot seat' was held on Monday before we broke camp and like the coaches ‘hot seat’ it was great. We left Mukono a much better team than when we arrived.

We did not train on Monday evening and have been ordered to rest on Tuesday: no gym, no running, just ‘chilling’ then a bleep test on Wednesday.

Cancelled - Week 3

Monday 19th January: most girls trained on empty stomachs: I’d spoiled their lunch time with news of the draws. It’s finally hit everyone. World cup is just around the corner. We were tense but there was a strange determination as we went about our training. Big hits, big tackles and our moves were working out well. Guess New Zealand loomed large in everyone’s minds. Winnie (in picture) told the team that she’d been told by one of the guys that if she were to play for New Zealand she would be a scrum half as she would be too small to play anywhere else. Scary thought because Winnie is our second biggest player: not just in 7’s but in 15’s as well.

After the session, Soggy said we are getting there. From him, that counts as praise.

Exactly 6 weeks to go before we set foot in Dubai.

Wednesday 21st January: Soggy announced he was now contented.Ball handling was looking good and fitness is almost where it should be. We just need to tidy up a few loose ends and then he’ll be happy.

There is a Ugandan public holiday on Monday so we go into camp in Mukono on Friday night up until Monday. The Lady Springboks (South Africans) fitness coach, Hene Ncebe and 7’s selector, Norman Mbiko, were meant to link up with Soggy and Mutaks to take us through this camp. However, SARU cancelled the plans after we were drawn in the same pool. That’s fair enough: it wouldn’t make sense for them to coach us to beat them.

Friday 22nd January: another good session. Lots of ball handling first then we played against a select side of men. Being a lot faster and bigger/heavier than us we had to think on our feet, be more creative and very aggressive. The guys were being really physical when they had possession and in defence they were stopping us hard rather than giving full out tackles so that we wouldn’t get hurt. We did pretty well and enjoyed ourselves. Mutaks almost had a coronary when Justine got the ball on the wing and had rounded the opposite winger then he chased and gave her a flying tackle. We were so worried that Justine would not be able to get up. However, she got up unhurt and got back into the game but Mutaks was beside himself. “Those guys should not kill my girls. Let them (the girls) kill each other but the guys should handle them with care.”

We wound up the session with 7 sets of shuttle sprints. As we were not going into camp on Friday night Soggy wanted to compensate for the fitness session we would miss on Saturday morning. Shuttle sprints done we paired up and did 3 sets of baby carrys, piggy backs and fireman’s lifts.

Breaking news ... world cup draw

The draw for the World Cup was carried out today by Bernard Lapasset, the Chairman of Rugby World Cup Limited, with Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein and His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group in Dubai today.

Pool A: Australia , Netherlands , France , China .
Pool B: England , Japan , Russia , USA .
Pool C: Canada , Brazil , Spain , Thailand .
Pool D: New Zealand , South Africa , Italy , Uganda .

The days roll closer ...

Lady

Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi: never in my life had I dreamt that I would actually step in the gym. To do what anyway? Yes, I play rugby but the gym does not feature in any of my to-do lists. As much as I love rugby I still want to be a lady. Ok, what I mean is that I want to retain the lady-ish appearance of my body. You know, the curves … etc. I have played rugby since 2003 yet this is my first time to step into the gym and oh my God, how horrible it was. Yes, we qualified for the World Cup and we were overjoyed and I was grateful to be part of history (Coach David said we would be put in the museum as national sporting heroes) but now I feel it is too much for me … going to the gym – how weird.

In December 2008 I was privileged part of a team that travelled to South Africa. We won all our group games and the semi final and met South Africa in the final. Here is where it mattered. I won’t say the South Africans were so hard but still they look so much better than us in terms of physique i.e. they go to the gym and we do not. So we were forced to do something about it and now we all go to the gym, whether we like it or not, including me.

I will never forget my first day in the gym. During our Christmas break, I jogged from home (about 2kms) so I would be already warm then took my time stretching to put off the inevitable moment. I entered the gym and found my friends already hard at work. My first bench press was 30kgs. I could only do 4 reps and yet I was meant to do 5 sets of 7 reps. I struggled through the 5 sets but I stuck to 4 reps then moved to do squats. I was ok with the squats and did them with 60kgs then moved on to dead lifts with 30 kgs. That wasn’t too bad as well. I wound up with 100 sit ups and called it a day. I jogged back home and wolfed down a 1 litre flask of maize meal porridge, 4 boiled eggs and 6 slices of white bread. I was unbelievably hungry. The rest of the day passed without incident but when I woke up the next morning I was in serious pain. Every part of me ached: my shoulders, arms, thighs, even my toes. I could barely move. I could not believe it: it was total madness. I gave myself a 2 day rest: no running and definitely no gym. I attempted press ups and sit ups but it was so so painful. I had to re-think this gym thing.

Ok, 2 days later the pain was sort of a distant memory so I went back to the gym. Back to the bench press: still 30kgs but much more determination from me. To hell with my shapely body: I’m going for the World Cup. 2 weeks on and I can now comfortably bench press 5 sets of 10 reps with 30kgs, do squats with 75kgs and dead lifts with 70kgs. Recently some guys came to the gym and they could not even bench press 30kgs. Worse still I was taking turns doing the dead lifts with them and when it was their turn I’d have to take off 30kgs to make it lighter for them. What a great way to have my confidence boosted. Next week I want to bench press 45kgs and I am sure that I can do it. Qualifying for this World Cup has changed me in ways I never thought possible. Although I had no choice about it, weight training is something that must be done, even if my lady-ish shape is lost.

Torture chamber

Helen Buteme: I spend at least 3 days a week in a torture chamber (otherwise known as the gym). I’m developing a sort of love-hate relationship with it i.e. I hate it when I’m there and I love it when I’m done. Shao (my no-nonsense gym coach) boasts that I’ll be looking like a boy by the time he’s through with me. Hello?! With my short hair, absent hips and spectacularly flat chest I already look like a boy! Well, maybe he meant a well muscled boy. Speaking of muscles, I have been accused of having biceps. Fantastic. I’ve started wearing sleeveless shirts to show them off a bit. Ok, nothing to rival the bulges on Brenda’s arms but I’m getting there thanks to hard work. I’ve moved from bench pressing 25kgs to 55kgs and can so far squat 100kgs. Some of the guys at the gym are talking of changing their gym times to the early morning hours when Aggie, Yogi, Brenda and I are not there. They’re complaining that we are embarrassing them: there’s nothing worse than a woman half your weight bench-pressing more than you do.

Truth be told

Winnie Atyang: I really used to hate the gym but when we went to South Africa I realised that I was lacking the extra power needed to make the big hits and to take the big hits. I need the extra strength because without strength rugby is not fun so I’ve now got the motivation to go to the gym. BUT, the truth is, I still hate the gym.

Fortunate Irankunda: it was so frustrating to be in the gym for the first time. Being big (80kgs) there was an assumption that I should be easily bench pressing 60kgs. I was so stressed when I struggled to bench 40kgs my morale sank to an all time low. Luckily I teamed up with Justine at the Namboole gym and she took on the role as my gym instructor. She started me off slowly – 10kgs for bench press, squats, squats with step ups and dead lifts. 2 weeks later and now I’m comfortably bench pressing 40kgs, doing squats with 80kgs, step up squats with 60kgs and dead lifts with 70kgs. I’m starting school again and although I’ll no longer have Justine as my instructor, I’ve come to love the gym and will try to get access to one and continue where I’ve left off. If I can’t access a gym I’ll use sand bags: anything to keep pumping.

Rachel Kakaire: I just need two short sentences to sum up my depth of feeling about the gym: I hate gym!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I must go …

Claire Anena: I hate the gym but when I go there I attempt to show it some love so that time passes a little bit faster.

Miscellaneous info

Monday 26th January is a public holiday so we'll be taking advantage of that and having a 3 day training camp this weekend.

I'll be making a weekly updates of this blog every Monday unless unavoidable circumstances prevent me from doing so.

I will be getting stories/comments/experiences from other members of the squad as well so that you get to know something about each of the 17 women who stand a chance of making it to the final squad of 12 that will represent Uganda during the World Cup.

The next couple of posts will be from various members of the team talking about the gym (weight training).

Clean pair of heels - Week 2

Monday 12th January: passing the ball first then game plan from scrums. Movement patterns are getting better. Still stuff to be worked on but so far we are getting there. Justine rounded Rose, Charlotte and Rachel on separate occasions. Even if we all knew what she was going to do it they were still left choking in the dust after she showed them a clean pair of heels. Watching it happen was like in slow motion fast forwarded. Neat! Then Aggie stopped Brenda dead in her tracks with a classic hand-off: the stunned look on Brenda’s face was comical. Haaaaaaaaaa. Guess the two of them are now even.


Wednesday 14th January: passing and contact skills then game plan from scrums and lineouts. It was one of those bad days: nothing seemed to go right. Aaaaaaargh. I won’t even talk about it. We’ll sort ourselves out on Friday.


Friday 16th January: we had started warming up when ICEMARK – our sponsors – came to have a word with us. The MD Christian and Tony reiterated their unwavering commitment to women’s rugby. Actually Tony did not say anything; he just smiled at us all. Christian reminded us that it is first blood, sweat and tears before tender loving care. They spent 2 minutes with us then Christian told us to get back to work. I liked the pair of them. Short, sweet and encouraging and unlike our government they are giving us financial aid and appreciate our efforts.

We completed our warm up then started the session with 20 metre sprints – 10 continuous ones. The backs had to do them in under 54 secs and the forwards in under 1 minute. We did 3 sets of those with a 1 minute break in between. For the next drill we paired up weight wise. We had to carry our partners in our arms (baby carry) to the 5 then sprint back to the try line. Carried our partners to the 10 on our backs then sprinted back, and then do the fireman’s lift to the halfway then we both sprint back. We did three sets of those as well. No breaks in-between. The final drill was front on tackles. Person on the 5 tried to charge over the try line.
Somewhere during the session we did ball handling. Not quite sure where though but it was looking good.

We ended the session with game plan from scrums. Brenda switched from hooking the propping and pulled it off pretty well- actually really well. On her first hit, her opposite number Aggie squealed in surprise and Rose (who was hooking) grunted ‘oh, I really felt you’ and they back peddled against the impact. My offloads from the base of the scrum are still pretty dodgy and we had a couple of unforced handling errors but once we sorted all that out it was looking quite good.

Saturday 17th January: once again we trained in sweltering heat. Ball work which is really now looking good and communication is getting better. From there we moved to game plan from scrums. It’s starting to come together and look more natural. Still a few things to iron out but we’ve got to be patient with ourselves.

New year – Week 1

Saturday 3rd January: the New Year saw Yogi hobbling back onto the pitch to test her ankle and Joan (boda boda) back from her neck injury while Hadijah rejoined the team after taking time off last year to have a baby. Well, we started the New Year with a bleep test. Coaches wanted to see what we had been up to since we broke off for Christmas. The cut off had been set to 14 for the backs, 13 for the hookers and scrumhalves and 12 for the props, or something like that. Bottom line, the coaches had high standards for us. Hmmh that Christmas break did us all in: we all failed so now we have to work extra hard to get there.

After the bleep test, Mutaks took us through ball handling for 1 hour then he called it a day.


Monday 5th January: we started the session with ball handling then Mutaks and Soggy made us do circuit runs (sprints) with a 30 second break after each run and a 3 minute rest after each set. I lost count of the sets along the way but I enjoyed the runs all the same. I wouldn’t mind a whole session of them though I speak for myself. Most of the team seems to prefer the gym whereas I loathe the gym. If it weren’t for this world cup I wouldn’t go anywhere near it.

Fitness done, we went to (opposed) game plan for lineouts. Girls were rather rusty so it was rather messy. Not all that bad though. We just need to re-adjust.


Wednesday 7th January: once again we started with ball handling skills then back to game plan. Line outs again. Looking loads better and we had fun too. Brenda gave Aggie a massive hand off. It was funny to see because Brenda is really short and Aggie is quite tall so up Aggie went in the air (her feet actually left the ground) and down she came again.


Friday 9th January: Soggy took the forwards away to work on scrum downs and the backs were left with Kasasa to sort out moves off scrums. We linked up with the forwards towards the end of the session and went through game plan from scrums. It was great. Firstly, things just clicked and we did our moves almost to perfection. Secondly, Justine made only 2 knock-ons the entire session and used that lethal pace of hers effectively. She crowned off her fine night when she executed that seamless step of hers that left me totally flat-footed. It was hard not to appreciate even if I looked like a fool. Nice way to end the week.

The squad in training:
Forwards: Christine Kizito, Aalliya Adania, Josephine Namayega, Claire Anena, Brenda Kayiyi, and Fortunate Irankunda.
Backs: Me (Helen Buteme), Prossy Nakakande, Justine Bayiga, Charlotte Mudooola, Hadijah Namuyanja, Joan Andika, Agnes Nantongo, Rachel Kakaire, Harriet Kayonjo, Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi, and Winnie Atyang.


Saturday 10th January: we started at 1pm. Mutaks and Soggy took us through ball handling and contact skills for one hour. It was so damn hot and the ground was baked dry. It was like concrete with tufts of grass sticking out of it. Painful.

We were given a 20 minute break after which we were split into 2 teams and we played two games. Soggy surprised Aggie and Prossy by switching them from the back line to the forwards. Aggie was told to prop and Prossy to hook. Luckily in 7’s it’s not that hard to switch from the backs to the forwards – they did quite a good job.
After the games, the dreaded ice bath re-surfaced. I’ve been exempted from it on medical grounds so I can watch the drama from the sidelines with dry eyes and a smile on my face. Surprisingly Brenda and Kayonjo got in for their 3 minutes of torture with hardly a squeak. Charlotte on the other hand screamed the entire 3 minutes and afterwards toppled out of the icebath cursing but no tears. That’s a step up for her.