{"id":30129,"date":"2022-04-25T17:00:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T17:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football"},"modified":"2022-04-25T17:14:52","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T17:14:52","slug":"royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football","title":{"rendered":"Royal Giants come of age in school football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Tournaments like the USSSA Boys Football are meant to prepare its participants for the real deal, its triumphs and adversities. Royal Giants Wabigalo in Mityana District got a glimpse of both at the annual schools\u2019 tournament previously known as Copa Coca-Cola or post-primaries.<\/p>\n

This year, they were the first team to qualify for the next round with a game to spare after registering their fifth win in a row on Saturday evening, a 1-0 victory of Fort Portal\u2019s Westville at Eruba Primary School grounds in Arua City. This year, they seem ready to break out.<\/p>\n

But this has not always been the case. Royal Giants have had to rise from nothing despite dazzling the cheering fans with their grit, flair and determination.<\/p>\n

From the ban to a brand<\/b><\/p>\n

The mastermind is the baby-faced Frank Mulindwa, who started the football project at the school in 2014 after joining from Bujuuko High School, where he had been for three years.<\/p>\n

The school, which started in 2001, was banned in 2007 and for seven years, they lived in pain and frustration. The school director, Benon Ntambi, a business studies teacher, went to the Gulu finals in 2014 for benchmarking and subsequently hired Mulindwa for the job.<\/p>\n

The rebuilding process started with rag-tag players and only a handful remain active in football including Kakaire Wagoina (Tooro United), Hamza Koke and Reagan Mukwaya (Katwe United).<\/p>\n

Royal Giants rode the momentum becoming the most feared school in Mpigi Region. Yet the knockouts were elusive. The team failed to advance from the groups during the finals held in Hoima finishing third.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pretty difficult to build a school team. Every time a player reaches the peak, he is taken by another school or he leaves for further studies. Therefore, you always have to work with what is available,\u201d Mulindwa said.<\/p>\n

0_Royal Giants school captain Issa Bugembe attempts a half volley during their game against Ibanda SS on April 24. PHOTO\/GEORGE KATONGOLE<\/p>\n

Despite building substantial players, it took the school five years to break the jinx and get out of the groups. During the finals in Jinja, the team was eliminated from the quarter finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not give up. We believed in what we were doing and we realised the process was becoming more complete,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Turning point<\/b><\/p>\n

The turning point was in 2017 when the school partnered with Bright Stars to play as the club\u2019s youth team for the Fufa Juniors League.<\/p>\n

This status elevated the village team to national prominence finishing runners-up in the first two seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was beneficial for us to usher players into the next step of their development. Bright Stars had set standards which helped us elevate as a school,\u201d Ntambi said.<\/p>\n

To give his players needed exposure, Mulindwa, who is a Masaza Cup coach with Busujju, used some of the players in the team.<\/p>\n

In the recent finals, he had Ivan Irinimbabazi, who has since joined St Mary\u2019s SS Kitende. In Arua, he has fielded polished players such as U17 star striker Issa Bugembe, Ronald Kaye and Elvis Sekajugo, central defender Samson Kasozi, Shamran Kamya, Shafic Kakande and reserve goal keeper Patrick Mubiru, who played in the U17 Cecafa in Gulu.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur players are now ready to compete. We have more experience and have corrected our mistakes,\u201d Mulindwa, who targets the trophy, said.<\/p>\n

Royal Giants technical team poses for a group photo after ensuring passage from the group stage. PHOTO\/GEORGE KATONGOLE<\/p>\n

Yet they now have grand plans. According to Ntambi, the immediate plan is to turn the Royal Soccer Academy, a preserve of upstarts into a successful academy while building a club to play in the Big League or the Premier League.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be a complete package at the school. In the medium term, we want to build a strong club that can absorb our players,\u201d Ntambi said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Tournaments like the USSSA Boys Football are meant to prepare its participants for the real deal, its triumphs and adversities. Royal Giants Wabigalo in Mityana District got a glimpse of both at the annual schools\u2019 tournament previously known as Copa Coca-Cola or post-primaries. This year, they were the first team to qualify […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-30129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nRoyal Giants come of age in school football - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tournaments like the USSSA Boys Football are meant to prepare its participants for the real deal, its triumphs and adver ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Royal Giants come of age in school football\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tournaments like the USSSA Boys Football are meant to prepare its participants for the real deal, its triumphs and adver ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-25T17:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-25T17:14:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/04\/postQueueImg_18-6266d6f32a4e7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Royal Giants come of age in school football\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-25T17:00:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-25T17:14:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football\"},\"wordCount\":661,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/04\/postQueueImg_18-6266d6f32a4e7.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/royal-giants-come-of-age-in-school-football\",\"name\":\"Royal Giants come of age in school football - 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