The Uganda Skating Association President, Moses Ddungu has appealed to the Government of Uganda for financial and logistical assistance ahead of the 2nd Edition of the East African Roller Speed Skating Championships slated for 27th -28th April 2013 at Namboole Parking Yard, Kampala.
“I call upon the Government, through the Ministry of Education and Sports to assist financially and logistically towards the development of Skating in Uganda. We need more trainning equipment and material support for the skaters”, Ddungu appeals.
Kampala will be hosting the 2nd edition of the East African Roller Speed Skating Championships later this month after the last event last year. Preparations for skaters is in high gear ahead of the championships. “The Ugandan skaters are currently in vigorous training sessions to boost their endurance levels at Namboole Parking Yard ahead of the meet”, Ddungu highlights.
Uganda is expected to rely on the expertise of Patricia Namuwaya, a two time gold medallist from an International Ice Skating championship in South Korea. Other Ugandan Skaters are; Sula Ssenkungu, Nuru Nakayizza, Julius Mugabi, Geofrey Sserugo, John Kevin Bukenya among others.
Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania are the East African countries that have confirmed participation while two guest teams from Egypt and Cameroon will also be taking part.
Skating in Uganda started in 2010 and the Skating Association is formally registered and recognised by the National Council of Sports. The Association has five different sporting disciplines like In-line Speed Skating, In-line Hockey, Roller Hockey, Skate Board and Roll Ball.
The Skating Association of Uganda main head offices are located in Kabalagala,opposite Capital Pub in Kampala.
About Skating:
Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates. There are several different kinds of skating :
Ice
Ice skating, moving on ice by using ice skates. Figure skating, a sport in which individuals, duos, or groups perform on figure skates on ice.
Speed skating, a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates.
Tour skating, a sport and recreational form of long distance ice skating on natural ice
Xtreme Ice Skating, sport on ice where the purpose is to perform tricks
Hard surface
Roller skating, the traveling on surfaces with roller skates
Inline skating, traveling on surfaces with skates having one line of wheels
Freestyle slalom skating, a field of inline skating that involves performing tricks around a straight line of equally spaced cones
Vert skating, riding inline skates on a vert ramp
Aggressive inline skating, inline skating executed on specially designed inline skates with focus on grinding and spins
Inline speed skating, the roller sport of racing on inline skates
Artistic roller skating, a sport similar to figure skating but where contestants run on roller skates instead of ice skates
Road skating, the sport of skating (inline skating or roller skating) on roads, much like road cycling. It shares much with inline speed skating
Skateboarding, an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard
Snow
Snow skating, using a hybrid of a skateboard and a snowboard on snow