FUFA officials have commended the progress of Rays of Grace after the Academy were taken through the Pro Agenda on October 7.
Rays of Grace won the inaugural FUFA Odilo Primary Schools Championship when they edged West Nile’s Oasis Annex Primary School 1-0 at Njeru last year.
Odilo champions
This year in July, FUFA deregistered all football academies in the country and put in place new guidelines for registration as they move to regulate football development.
FUFA Technical Development Director Ali Mwebe lauded the Academy after a one day seminar.
Ali Mwebe – Rays of Grace photo
“I take this opportunity to applaud the management of Rays of Grace who have endeavored to organise and also be part of this workshop, the seminar was about how to implement the new FUFA academy regulations which are now in place,” Mwebe said.
“We also inspected and saw what this academy has put in place, it is a wonderful investment, they have a good pitch, equipment for the players and everything to train the players.
“So, in this workshop, we were giving them what exactly needs to be done to develop players on and off the pitch.”
The training was conducted by Mwebe, FUFA Youth Development Manager (Bashir Mutyaba), FUFA Sports Science Expert (Ismail Assimwe) and Uganda Youth Football Association Secretary General (Shafic Kigongo).
“FUFA has a vision of being the number one nation on and off the pitch, and in that line, We have a strategic plan and in that, we have different focus areas. One of them is football development under which we have youth football where we recognise the academies to ensure that the development of the young generation is handled properly,” noted Bashir Mutyaba.
“One of the key areas we came up is to regulate the academies where we came up with guidelines that govern them on how to run their business in terms of player development and in that line, we have come up with outreach programs to come and reach out to these academies, equip them with the knowledge they need to run them.”
The Academy, found in Njeru, was started in 2015 by Roberts Kiwanuka to mould the talent of youngsters.
Rays of Grace Director Robert Kiwanuka is confident and positive after the workshop.
He said: “It was a good workshop to support our academy giving capacity building to all academy employees, this has been an amazing experience for each and everyone to understand the game of football and also understand the role and responsibility ahead of us to make this game come to a professional level, its very challenging, the journey is going to be long, but at least its good to be doing something than falling into something that you actually don’t know how to do.”
“We know what is ahead of us, to restructure, to do professional development for these young players, and with the grace of God, we will get there.”
Attendance List
Kiwanuka Roberts – Director
Joseph Balikuddembe – Head of Character Development
Kananga Charles – Team Manager
Bazzanye Matthew – Operations Manager
Lutalo Hamuza – Head of Coaching
Sserumaga Peter – Technical Director
Mawejje Vincent – Marketing Manager
Kivumbi Vincent – Finance Officer
Mbuga Swaibu – Communications Director
Mable Kabatalindwa – Head of Medical
Kato Erimiah – Coach
Kabali Michael – Head of Scouting
Nsubuga Moses – General Secretary
