Of the 14 coaches passed out at the recently concluded FIBA Coaches’ Clinic is Martin Kelly, an American citizen playing and coaching at Our Savior, one of the youngest teams in Ugandan basketball.
The camp, held at Ssaku SS in Luwero district, handed Kelly the opportunity to get his first FIBA certificate which qualifies him to coach mini-basketball.
“It was a great experience and I learnt a lot from Coach Sam during and after the clinic,” Kelly told Kawowo Sports on completion of the week long course. “Sharpen up on a few things especially the fun aspect of the game. We normally look at things from an instructional and competitive perspective only,” the Our Savior proprietor added.
Kelly was not the only coach who qualified from the clinic, active players Angella Namirimu (JKL), Grace Wanjiku (JKL) and Joanna Nabisenke (A1 Challenge) are some of the other players who attended and completed the course.
UCU Lady Canons’ assistant coach Emanuel Kiguyi is the other familiar face that completed the course.
About Kelly
Kelly is an American citizen now staying in Uganda, he is the president of Our Savior Basketball family in the US and head coach of Our Savior basketball club in Uganda.
He played basketball at Port Jefferson High school in New York, Suffock and St.Joseph’s College in New York. In 2011 he made his first visit to Uganda and fell in love with the passion kids had for the game.
On returning to the US, he prayed to the Lord to bring him back to the Pearl of Africa and his prayer was answered in 2013.
He played for six time league champions StarTimes Falcons before his dream of acquiring a basketball team was answered in February 2015; UCU JV had been promoted to the top tier division to join their senior team UCU Canons.
The two parties negotiated and UCU gave their slot to Our Savior and like they say, the rest is now history.
After acquiring his qualification, Kelly will now put emphasis on helping young talent achieve their goals of playing basketball at the top most level.
He is the coach for the national U-18 Ladies’ team and coached at the recently concluded U-18 Afrobasket Championship (Women) held in Cairo, Egypt.
He also runs a kids’ program every Saturday at Our Savior’s training ground in Kikoni, Makerere.
Coaches who completed the course
Joanna Nabisenke, Kelly Martin, Angella Namirimu, John Runda, Prossy Nakitende, Linda Wefila, Patricia Ayebare, Stacie Alituwera, Godwin Makanga, Grace Wanjiku, Hussein Kalema, Jackie Mbatudde, Emanuel Kiguyi