Archives: Development

The Sports Association of Ugandans in North America (SAUNA) will launch its operations in North America on October 7, 2023. 

The high-profile event will precede Uganda’s national day independence celebrations on October 9, 2023.

“I am glad that we were able to find a suitable date and venue for the event,” said SAUNA Deputy Managing Director Thomas Muluka.

“The organizing committee is ready and operational for the launch of the event this year. It was jointly decided that it would be best to hold the event this year in the best sports and social conditions.” 

The launch will be hosted at 1200 Lansdowne, Toronto, ON, M6H 3Z8. 

The launch of the association’s activities will mark the start of a new chapter in the lives of those who appreciate healthy living, the need to work out, network in a stress-free environment and ultimately break social and cultural barriers among the communities.

“We are here to create a difference and change perceptions in communities. The rewards of a healthy population and sociable community are unprecedented,” SAUNA Director Fred Kaweesi stated.

“We plan to grow the SAUNA family over time through a variety of well-thought-out activities that will serve the interests of all communities and age brackets,” he added.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has been invited as Chief Guest. Rene Kwol President and Director, Canada First Academy and Barry Samuel Director, Inside Out Studio will also attend the event.

SAUNA utilizes sports to promote healthy living/fitness, develop careers and strengthen cultural relations through various activities in communities in North America and Uganda.

SAUNA uses its platforms and activities to identify young talent within communities and create opportunities for them in sports academies or institutions that offer opportunities to student-athletes to further their education.

Considering that education is a catalyst for social and economic change, our programs focus on developing talent and providing opportunities for them to fulfill their careers in the areas of their strengths.

SAUNA works with partner academies, colleges, universities and major organizations to achieve this objective.

The SANA African Heritage program seeks to recognize and relive the legacy of African descents in transforming lives in communities and sports in North America.

This program focuses specifically on the contributions that African descents have played in transforming sports in Canada and USA, raising aspirations of young people from African heritage and using sports to tackle racism.

We celebrate these outstanding individuals and use their experiences to inspire the future generations that look forward to embracing North America as their new home.

Sana also recognizes February –the Black History Month –that was set aside in Canada to celebrate some of the Black Canadian athletes who have contributed so much to the country’s sporting success on the Olympic stage and beyond, inspiring generation after generation as they broke down barriers.

Over the years, hockey’s biggest challenger to its eternal sports supremacy in Canada was basketball.

However, through the last decade, soccer is now Canada’s most popular sport among children.

Black immigrants are firmly at the center of this tremendous transformation of soccer popularity in Canada. A town embodying the Canadian Black soccer wave is the aforementioned Brampton.

In the USA, African Americans, have used professional sports as a platform to highlight social and political issues.

According to researchers, sporting events have provided a platform that would have been otherwise unavailable for African Americans.

Canada

Marco Arop (Sudan)

Marco Arop is a Canadian track and field athlete competing in the middle distance events. Arop is the reigning world champion in the 800m, winning gold at the 2023 World Athletics Championship, after winning bronze the previous year at the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

Alphonse Davies (Ghana)

Davies, 22, plays for the Canadian national team. He is a left-back or winger for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. He was born in Buduburam, Ghana.

Ismael Kone (Ivory Coast)

Kone is a professional football player who plays as a midfielder for CF Montreal. Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, he represents Canada at international level

USA

Timothy Weah (Liberia)

Weah is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Serie A club Juventus and the United States national team.

Yunus Musah (Ghana)

Musah is an American professional soccer player who plays as a central midfielder for Serie A club AC Milan and the United States national team.

Haji Wright (Liberia)

Haji Amir Wright is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward or winger for EFL Championship club Coventry City and the United States national team.

Sauna organizes competitions for teams in the United States of America and Canada. The competitions in the fields of football, basketball, volleyball, athletics and netball are held during the Sauna Sports Festival in both USA and Canada.

The teams are as follows:
CANADA

1. Toronto Cranes
2. Edmonton Cranes
3. Ottawa Cranes
4. Hamilton Cranes

USA

1. New York Cranes
2. Chicago Cranes
3. Texas Cranes
4. California Cranes
5. Boston Cranes
6. Washington Cranes

Sports Association of Ugandans in North America (SAUNA) director Godfrey Ssembeguya underlined the importance of football academies in the development of sports talent.

Talent development was one of several tips shared by Ssembeguya while launching the association’s objectives to various stakeholders in Kampala on January 9, 2022.

“Talent development is one of our key objectives at SAUNA,” Ssembeguya told the media at City High School ground.

“We are determined to mobilize the youth in Uganda and North America and support their interests in developing their sports career,” he added before donating training equipment which included balls and cones to Prosper Soccer Academy.

“We are thrilled to be here, to motivate this young talent and try to contribute to their development. At SAUNA, we try to raise support both financially and logistically for the unprivileged youth,” he stated.

The other SAUNA directors at the function included Laurian Lubulwa and General Secretary Moses Kabugo.