History
Lacrosse's roots in Uganda can be traced to the sport's introduction in 2009 by Fields of Growth International, a U.S.-based non-profit organization founded in May 2009 by Kevin Dugan, the University of Notre Dame's director of men's lacrosse operations.
In Uganda, Dungan sought to intersect sports with community development and after attending an academic seminar at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), where he met Maurice Sserunkuma, a faculty member there, with Sserunkuma's insistency, they made lacrosse part of the MUBS sports program, [1] and Dugan built a lacrosse compound in Kampala, Uganda, and established a volunteer corps that brought American stars like Rob Pannell, Tom Schreiber, Chad Wiedmaier, Ryan Flanagan and John Christmas to Uganda, not only to teach lacrosse, but also to help construct the Hopeful School in Khindu, Masaka.
Well over 100 Americans participated in the volunteer corps missions which include farming, landscaping, brick making, digging and village outreach. [2] Sserunkuma went on to become the founding Secretary General of what at the time was called the Uganda Lacrosse Union (ULU), Sam Otoa was the Deputy Secretary General, and Francis Eriwala was in charge of Public Relations, while Jaffari Ibrahim Makanda, a MUBS student was charged with recruiting athletes. [3] [4] [5] With the strong support of the late Tom Hayes, World Lacrosse Director of Development at the time, ULA first became an associate member of World Lacrosse in 2011, as its 40th member overall, and Dugan received the World Lacrosse Development Award in September 2015. [6]
In June 2011, Tyler Steinhardt, a Baltimore-area native, traveled to Uganda as part of a group of 20 Americans volunteer corps. Steinhardt, who had played lacrosse throughout his life, was known in the lacrosse world for coordinating Shootout for Soldiers, the 24-hour, record-breaking lacrosse game that raised $120,000 to support wounded American troops as part of the Wounded Warrior Project.
Steinhardt ended up making two more trips to Uganda, helping ULU develop and continue to grow lacrosse in the area through the introduction of a national championship tournament known as the King's Cup. Since that time, the ULU established three distinct seasons: a traditional spring season with a league championship, a summer developmental training season that culminates in a national tournament and a fall seven-on-seven season. He was named the 2011 Ugandan National Lacrosse Coach of the Year. [7]
In November 2020, World Lacrosse officially recognized ULA, by unanimous vote of the board, as its first full member national governing body from the continent of Africa, and ULA was a founding member of the Africa Association of Lacrosse, formed in 2020 and formalized as a continental federation of World Lacrosse in 2022. [8]
As a full member, the ULA will have a voting delegate eligible to participate in the annual WL general assembly, and in addition, national teams representing Uganda will be eligible to advance to the championship bracket and win medals in all WL championship events. [9]
On March 2, 2023, World Lacrosse added five African countries to its membership, bringing the total number of African countries to eleven; the growth of lacrosse in Africa is seen as a vital step for the sport to be included in the 2018 World Olympics. [10]
World Lacrosse Championships
2014 World Lacrosse Championship
In September 2013, Andrew Boston, an Ellicott City, MD native, was named the head coach of the Uganda men's senior national lacrosse team, with a strong supporting cast of assistants in Tom Schreiber (offensive coordinator), Tanner Scales (defensive coordinator), and Casey Lavallee. [5] [7]
In July, Steinhardt was named the general manager of the team, but the hard work had just begun, and even getting to the United States was a challenge, as defection was a real concern especially after more than 12 African athletes went missing after the 2012 Olympics in London. Political maneuvering by U.S. Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, a former player at the University of Maryland helped, as relations between the U.S. and Uganda over an anti-gay law signed by the president of Uganda in earlier in the year in February added complexity to the proceedings. [2]
A fundraiser, the Dream 2014 Campaign, launched by former Louisville lacrosse player Aimee Dixon, now the director of philanthropy at World Lacrosse, raised about $150,000 to pay for travel expenses for the team and coaching staff, with his players' visas not secured until days before the team was scheduled to fly to Denver, Colorado. [11]
The team made their international debut at the World Lacrosse Championship in 2014, played in Denver, Colorado, United States as the first African team to feature in the tournament. In 2011, Castro David Onen, who begun playing lacrosse in 2010 scored the first goal in the first lacrosse game to ever be played on African soil, and on July 11, 2014, in Uganda's very first game of the tournament, he scored the first ever goal for an African team in the World Lacrosse Championship, in a 17–1 loss to Ireland, as he ran by two Ireland defenders and put the ball in the back of the net in the third quarter of the team's international debut. [12]
Three days later, Uganda erased a five-goal deficit, scoring the final six goals with 6:17 left, in a game against the Republic of Korea to earn its first-ever world championship win. Patrick 'Pato' Oriana, the captain, scored the game-winning goal off a faceoff with 36 seconds left to lift Uganda to a 10–9, in a dramatic, storybook, spectacular fashion, coming from behind after trailing 9–4, and scoring twice in the final 44 seconds. [2] [13] [14]
They ended the tournament ranked finished 34th among 38th competitors, coming away with two wins over Korea and Argentina over the seven games they played, and gaining global attention - featuring on the cover of the September 2014 edition of USA Lacrosse Magazine, a publication of US Lacrosse, the sport's governing body in the United States. [2]
The Lacrosse Cranes' journey to the 2014 championship was the subject of a documentary called Kandote (a Ugandan word meaning "let me dream"), a film by former Johns Hopkins University lacrosse player Will McCance. [15] [16] [17]
Four players from this team eventually played in the Israel Premier Lacrosse League; Patrick Oriana and Castro David Onen for Barak Netanya Lacrosse Club, [18] [19] then Jaffari Ibrahim Makanda and Kenneth Kasule for Askelon Lacrosse Club. [20] [21] [22]
2014 Uganda men's senior national lacrosse team
| Number | Name | Position |
|---|
| 6 | Andrew Musasizi | M |
| 1 | Allan Amone | G |
| !3 | Joshua Okecho | D |
| 6 | Ivan Musisi | D |
| 11 | Faisal Nsubuga | A |
| 13 | Castro David Onen | M |
| 14 | Ryan Mugisa | A |
| 24 | James Tabu | A |
| 30 | Felix Nyekorac | D |
| 33 | Michael Bahizi | D |
| 48 | Patrick Oriana | M |
| 86 | Salim Kyambadde | D |
| 7 | Kenneth Kasule | A |
| 8 | Jimmy Tabu | G |
| 12 | Jaffari Ibrahim Makanda | A |
| 17 | Keith Lubangakene | M |
| 40 | Ronald Otim | D |
| 91 | Brian Yunis Tukire | M |
| 6 | Liberty Twesiime | A/M |
2018 World Lacrosse Championship
In May 2017, Matt Holman, a Summit, New Jersey native, was named general manager of the Uganda men's national senior lacrosse team. Holman was the founder and executive director of the East-West Lacrosse foundation, president of Southwestern Lacrosse Conference (SLC) and director of the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) National Championships. [23]
In June 2017, hall-of-famer Peter Ginnegar, who had served as Israel’s assistant coach for the past six years, winning the silver medal at the 2016 European Lacrosse Championship in Budapest, Hungary was named head coach. [24]
In 2015, Ginnegar had led the Barak Netanya Lacrosse Club to a championship in the inaugural season of the Israel Premier Lacrosse League before being inducted in the Queens University of Charlotte Hall of Fame in, where he had been an athlete in his college days. He had previously enjoyed 11 seasons as head coach at Claremont Colleges and 32 years overall as a college lacrosse coach at division II and III levels.
At Barack Netanya, he coached Patrick Oriana, a former captain of the 2014 Uganda Men's National Senior Lacrosse Team, and its future Head Coach.
In November 2017, John Christmas, the former Virginia All-American attackman and then De La Salle (Calif.) coach, Francis Donald, the former Nazareth All-American long pole and current Bishop’s School (Calif.) coach, and Mike Allan, a two-time MCLA championship-winning coach at UC Santa Barbara, were added as assistant coaches. Ivan Cohen was named the goalie's coach. [24] [25]
Uganda entered the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship in Netanya, Israel for their second appearance in the international lacrosse competition, eventually placing 40th out of 46 teams the tournament after winning only one of eight games played; a 7-6 come from behind win over Luxembourg. Uganda was behind, 5-2 at halftime, before the Lacrosse Cranes put together a 3-0 run giving them the lead and a revitalized energy and managing to hold on to the lead. [26]
2018 Uganda men's senior national lacrosse team
In May 2018, head coach Ginnegar announced the final 23-man roster for the 2018 World Lacrosse Championship. [22]
| Name | Position |
|---|
| Richard Akena | D |
| Allan Amone | G |
| Andrew Musasizi | M |
| Jeff Anywar | M |
| Michael Bahizi | D |
| Benard Otim | D |
| Castro David Onen | A/M |
| Kenneth Ssazi | M |
| Kenneth Kasule | M |
| Trey Kawugule | M |
| Martin Komakech | M |
| Keith Lubangakene | M |
| Jaffari Ibrahim Makanda | D |
| Alberto Mugaga | G |
| Faisal Nsubuga | A |
| Samson Ochan | A |
| John Paul Okura | D |
| Patrick Oriana | M |
| Collines Odiira | M |
| James Okello | G |
| Reagan Ochan | M |
| Ronald Otim | D |
| Ibrahim Ssetimba | M |
| Pitta Shaban | D |
| Brian Yunis Tukire | M/D |
| Liberty Twesiime | A/M |
| Dalton Wadri | M |
2023 World Lacrosse Championship
In May 2022, Ugandan-born and reared Patrick Oriana, who previously played under Peter Ginnegar for the Barack Netanya Lacrosse club of the Israel Premier Lacrosse League, was named the head coach, the first Ugandan to hold that position, with Sam Otoa as the assistant. Oriana had been the captain of the 2014 Uganda men's national senior lacrosse team. [22]
On Saturday morning, November 19, 2022, Under Oriana's leadership, Uganda outlasted rivals Kenya, coached by his mentor, Peter Ginnegar, 9–8, in triple overtime at Kenton College Preparatory School in Nairobi City in the first-ever Africa Association of Lacrosse qualifier to secure the last spot at the 2023 World Lacrosse Men's Championship in San Diego, United States. It was a stunning comeback for Uganda on Kenya's home soil in front of an eager crowd as Kenya led 3–2 at the end of the first period, and Uganda never led the rest of the way until the ultimate sudden golden goal. Uganda will appear in its third consecutive men's world championship in San Diego, as the only African team to ever participate in one, let alone three consecutive ones. [27]
In May 2023, the U.S.-based and educated Ugandan-born engineer [28] Brian M. Kwesiga, who previously served as the president and CEO of the Ugandan North American Association, the largest and oldest formal Ugandan diaspora organization [29] [30] [31] was named general manager of the Uganda men's national senior lacrosse team, the first person of Ugandan origin to hold the position. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36]
2023 Uganda men's senior national lacrosse team
Head Coach Oriana announced the 26-man roster for the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship on March 16, 2023. [37]
| Name | Position |
|---|
| Andrew Asiimwe | G |
| Allan Amone | G |
| Daniel Otimu | G |
| Innocent Anyala | D |
| Pitta Shaban | D |
| Benard Otim | D |
| Max Phillips | D |
| Damson Lyaleng | D |
| Chris Palanda | M |
| Michael Ochan | M |
| Solomon Adiyo | M |
| Francis Odong | M |
| Martin Komakech | M |
| Roger Anywar | M |
| Keith Lubangakene | M |
| Owen Waluku | M |
| John Brian Mukaga | M |
| George Ogik | M |
| Yosef Ngowe | M |
| Paul Mbusa | M |
| Edward Komakech | G |
| Aaron Lyaleng | M |
| Swaibu Meliga | F |
| Benjamin Ojok | F |
| Faisal Nsubuga | F |
| Finn Phillips | F |
Patrick Oriana
