Viola Namuddu shows courage

Former Kawempe Muslim and She Mark defender Viola Namuddu has said that winning the 2011 East African schools competition is the best thing to have happened in her footballing career.

Namuddu who was a teenager in senior two by then says they suffered a lot along the way to Burundi as they travelled by road and went long hours without feeding.

The accommodation along the way was poor as they slept in overcrowded rooms

As if that wasn't enough, their passports were stolen before their semi-final game against Kenyan side St. John. Adding on that, they went into the game while mentally perturbed.

"It was my first time traveling such a long distance and as a young girl, the journey drained me both emotionally and physically" Namuddu lamented.

"And upon reaching our destination (Burundi), we played well until the quarter-finals and we're drawn against a Kenyan side who had lost 1-0 to Rwanda," she continued.

"We played Rwanda (younger side) in the semi-finals but remember our passports and all documents were stolen. We didn't know the language but to cut the long story short, we won on penalties before facing Rwanda in the final."

"Honestly, my teammates and I were scared of the Rwandans. They looked fresh, energetic, and tall which scared the hell out of us."

The game took a lot of nerves out of the girls but they never gave up but instead remained focused.

"And in the final minutes, their keeper made a mistake and Nakato took advantage as we equalised," she recalled.

"It was now time for penalties, the players and technical were all nervous but Coach Ayub calmed us down later selected Naome to take the first penalty which she scored," jubilant Viola continued.

"Then Nabweteme missed the second spot after hitting the post but good enough Aturo saved Rwandese player that followed."

"Finally, we scored our fifth attempt and Aturo saved the spot that followed and we all cried, from there we all lost our senses".

As you can read through the lines this was an emotional moment for both Viola Namuddu and her teams.

What an inspiring story for the young girls out there to pick a leaf that is never easy to get to the top.