Coach Magee and the Sacred Heart Basketball Team

Amy, the director of Invisible Children's Schools for Schools program had asked me to present at the teaching conference. She wanted me to teach 10 young women, and present how we can use sports in Uganda to empower young women and get them to do more. So 10 wonderful young women from Sacred Heart, an all girls school, showed up at the conference not knowing what to expect. They are: Agnes, Alicia, Prossy, Gladys, Beatrice, Mildred, Mary, Dosoline, Caroline, and Susan. I enlisted the help of another teacher Sasha, and in the front parking lot of the Guzco center, we started to teach these young women basketball. We started out by telling them that if at least they tried they would be successful, and if they tried both Coach Magee and Coach Sasha would be proud of them.

In the beginning it looked a little rough, the students were all wearing sandals, and we were practicing in an uneven, brick patio. But slowly there difficulties were removed and they worked hard to get better. I introduced the bump splash to them, a kind of high five, where it was easy for me to give them positive reinforcement. They worked incredibly hard in the hot sun, and slowly start keeping their hands together, taking that step, calling for the ball, being in a ready position. We moved them to a star passing drill, and there were a lot of mistakes. It was interesting, because Sasha and I were now being observed by 90 teachers as they walked around to the different workshops. I made a point about emphasizing the positive reinforcement, and slowly but surely they became better. During this time, 2 Ugandan teachers who had an interest in basketball, joined our practice and were instructing the students in Lwo as we were coaching them in English. It got really confused for awhile and I admit it was a first for me. Since, I did not know Lwo, I did not know what these coaches were saying One later told me he had been trained by Russians at their basketball academy.

Surprise, Surprise the food was delayed, so we continued to practice. We were supposed to have 2 hours with the students, but it soon became 3. We talked to them about how success individually on a math test, could be translated into team success as a group. We had a very wonderful conversation eating our lunch in the grass. I talked to the girls about their reach, and then Sasha brilliantly asked them where they saw themselves in 5 years. These amazing young women told us that they would be in Parliament, an accountant, a social worker, another accountant, an environmentalist, and a lawyer. These are the best at Sacred Heart and I think some of them will and can achieve these dreams.

The demonstration of the star drill in a conference room full of teachers went great. The girls had their best moment of the practice session. Sasha and I traded ideas of what we tried to give these students besides just a sports practice. I talked about how as a coach, I was able to help my students in all phases of their education. We continued to talk, as these 10 continued a flawless star drill in very camped quarters. They were truly an amazing bunch, and they were quite thankful of what Sasha and I had given to them. I think these 10 may have benefitted greatly from this little workshop. Sasha and I both received many positive responses from both Ugandan teachers and American teachers. Justine told me that she was so touched that she almost cried during our presentation. We got several pictures, that I will try to post if I ever can. The students asked me if I could give them more basketball training. And I am going to do my best to do that in the last part of this month.

As I stood on the brick patio, waving good bye to my team, I realized these 10 wonderful women might be the last group ever to call me Coach Magee. If that is true, I am very proud of what the 12 of us accomplished today.
Coach Magee