Uganda is a privileged country of sorts that it is blessed with an array of talented sportsmen across the board.
From athletes, footballers, netballers, cricketers, cyclists, golfers, swimmers, handball, volleyball, hockey to rugby players, the pool is served in abundance.
Football being the number one sport in the country, a lot of attention has been drawn to the progress, programs and ways of sustaining this sport.
Therefore, strong emphasis by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA), the mother body partaking the sport has been laid on the grass-root programs to ensure continuity of talent growth and development through the Uganda Youth Football Associations (UYFA).
A diligent and shrewd catholic father Fr. Moses Oboth is also on the bandwagon of laying that precious brick on the football development journey in Uganda.
Father Oboth is the co-director of the SOM Football Academy, an entity of budding footballers from the ages of 5 to 18 years.
Other directors are Nathanael Mukasa and Samuel Semitego.
For starters, SOM Football Academy is based in Kyabazaala village, Ntunda Sub county, Mukono District (Nakifuma Constituency) with over 70 players.
Father Oboth boldly acknowledges that this academy is geared towards a positive impact on the holistic development of players with football and life skills opportunities as asserted by the mission and vision statements.
SOM Football Academy is to positively impact Holistic development of a player in our community by providing soccer and life Skilling opportunities to young players of all ages, to create a lifelong passion for the game, to instill in our players positive core values and an excellent work ethic, providing a platform for our players from which they can succeed at the professional level of play.
Mission Statement of SOM Football Academy
SOM Football Academy will set the standard in youth Football by creating a culture that provides a foundation for all to reach their fullest potential on and off the field while having the ultimate soccer experience.
Vision of SOM Football Academy
Objectives:
Some of the objectives of SOM Football Academy entail; identifying sports talents in young people and giving them a chance at making a career even away from the Academy, creating a community and sustainable Academy in order to develop talents, building friendship ties with other sports oriented entities and participating in activities that promote friendship, tolerance and fight against racism and all forms of discrimination, engaging young people in physical and moral education as well as life skills with a view of reducing crime rate, drug abuse and the fight against HIV/AIDS, training young people in the sustainable environment in the sustainable management of bio diversities and environmental protection and developing complete soccer players who can excel in technical, tactical, physical and psychological areas of the game.
These objectives are worked upon to be achieved under the core values of commitment, discipline, hard work and integrity.
Challenges:
Father Oboth reveals some of the challenges that range from financial constraints, limitations of equipment (balls, boots, jerseys, training dummies and the like.
“Like any other football entity, we face challenges that hinder the smooth running of SOM Football Academy. We face financial challenge as an Academy because everything basically requires funds in order to move on, currently we have no sponsorships or partners to help us in execution of some of our objectives. We also need equipment for training like balls, hurdles, playing boots, jerseys and other equipment are also a challenge to us as well as the transport challenge to our players especially when traveling for friendly games and tournaments.” Father Oboth points.
Future prospects:
To make SOM Football Academy a better institution, a number of positive future prospects are being planned.
These include acquiring land to establish a permanent home base, widening the financial coffers and establishing networks through building a club website and working social media platforms.
“We need to acquire land so that we put up a standard training ground for the players, and other infrastructural development like constructing dormitories for players in order to accommodate players from different parts of the country. We need more funding to help our players will benefit from life skills and vocational programs in order to achieve our objectives. We are currently we are finalizing on the Academy website; it will be done in few days” Oboth adds.
The academy humbly invites sponsorships of any nature from the different organizations and companies as well as partnerships with well-established football clubs.
SOM Football Academy Addresses:
- Email: somfootballacademy@gmail.com
- Facebook page: SOM Football Academy
- LinkedIn: SOM Football Academy
- Phone & WhatsApp: +256704996455
