Limited funding threatens UPSSA’s talent development goals

The Uganda Primary Schools Sports Association (UPSSA) has set out to expand the range of sports disciplines in its 2025 competitions to enhance talent identification and development at the primary level.

UPSSA president William Bwambale emphasised that the initiative aims to increase participation and nurture more young athletes by introducing additional sports disciplines in primary school competitions.

“We are the core of all talent identification for all sports disciplines in the country, and if we don’t start from the primary level, it becomes difficult to identify these gifts at the earliest time they deserve. We are looking at increasing from five to eight disciplines starting this year to have more kids on the sports fields,” Bwambale said.

Currently, UPSSA competitions feature five disciplines: netball, volleyball, handball, football, athletics, and goalball for children with visual impairments.

The association plans to introduce tennis, table tennis, swimming, and basketball to broaden its reach.

However, Bwambale pointed to inadequate funding as a major challenge in implementing these plans, despite ongoing government support through the Ministry of Education and Sports' Physical Education and Sports Department.

“We thank the government for the continued support over the years, but these finances have increasingly become inadequate as the number of participants has grown. More schools have joined, meaning we need increased funding for better organisation of competitions and sustained talent development. So we ask the government for more support,” Bwambale said.

The government has been providing UPSSA with Shs60 million annually while allocating Shs7.5 billion to USSSA, the association responsible for secondary school sports.

However, following a collaboration between UPSSA and USSSA last year, the primary school association received Shs200 million in relief support from the secondary schools’ body.

Last year, UPSSA recorded its highest-ever participation, with 5,500 children competing in kids’ athletics in Kitgum, while 7,500 took part in the ball games in Soroti.

This year, UPSSA's calendar includes the kids’ athletics competition in Kabale in May, while the venue for the ball games and FEASSA qualifiers is yet to be confirmed.