Flavia Oketcho: Uganda's best female baller ever

UGANDAN BASKETBALL

When Flavia Oketcho took a year off basketball to become a mother, she was surprised to hear obituaries about her career as a sportswoman. Many thought she wouldn't - some even said couldn't - come back.

And even if she did, she could never be as good as before.

Oketcho was shocked, even if she really had no experience in coming back from childbirth, this being her first and still only child. But that shock quickly turned into motivation to prove the doubters wrong.

Hence just weeks after giving birth, she was back on the road jogging. "After one and a half months, I was ready to play again," she said in an interview nine years ago.

Oketcho gave birth to Chantelle in 2010 in the UK. In 2011, she rejoined National Basketball League (NBL) giants KCCA Leopards.

"When I had Chantelle, it wasn't hard adjusting because she is a part of me I love so much," Oketcho explained.

In a recent interview, Oketcho also revealed why she was so eager, perhaps even too eager to come back. "I thank the media for that. You guys said I couldn't come back and that fueled me. I was surprised because it is not as if I lost my brain when I gave birth.

"Basketball is played with the brain."

Point god

If there's is one attribute you could ascribe to Oketcho's game over the last two decades of unprecedented greatness, it would be that - cleverness.

No player thinks the game better than Oketcho in the women's NBL. Her fitness is  inconstant, especially now that her time for basketball appears to reduce with every passing season, but her feel of the game is permanently pristine.

In Game 7 of the 2019 Women's NBL Finals, Oketcho was sent tumbling to the floor by a nasty spin move from UCU Lady Canons forward Zainah Lokwameri, with the game dangling on the edge deep in overtime. After the consequent eruptions subsided, Oketcho picked up her broken ankles and knees and delivered the counter, sucker punch.

Oketcho guarded Lokwameri on a couple of very decisive possessions thereafter, possessions that would decide the 2019 NBL championship.

Oketcho picked Lokwameri's pocket every time she attempted the spin move, turning the same thing that exposed her moments earlier into a display of her savvy. And grit. The JKL Lady Dolphins were toasting to their second straight championship moments later and Oketcho was reflecting on taking her personal tally to a ridiculous 12 titles.

Never write us off! pic.twitter.com/KWvulXRTJK

— FLIRSH FLAVIA OKETCHO (@flirshflavia) December 9, 2019

Looking back 20 years ago, when a little Oketcho first set foot on a basketball court, who could have possibly imagined the star of Flirsh would still be shining today!

Many doubted whether her tiny body would hold out in the physical sport, let alone thrive and often told her as much.

As if to validate the doubts, Oketcho was inspired by her late cousin and national basketball legend Wilbrod, who, unlike her, was a man mountain that dominated the post. But Oketcho more than makes up for any shortcomings in size with pitbull confidence.

"If I want something I will go for it and I went for basketball even though some said I was too small," she explained.

Born winner

Oketcho has won a championship with all the clubs she has played for - Lady Bucks, UCU, KCCA Leopards and JKL - and scooped MVP honours twice as well as USPA basketball player of the year.

Oketcho captained the Uganda Gazelles en route to their maiden Afrobasket qualification in 2014, in what remains one of the landmark years of Ugandan hoops.

Her basketball exploits are made all the more impressive by the fact they had to be juggled with a separate and often dicey career as a socialite and fashion icon, which Oketcho has successfully built over the last 10 years, with the help of her partner Chizzo Lubega.

At 33, Oketcho is closer to the end than the beginning. Just make sure she does not hear the 'f word'.

'Finished' that is!