SOWING THE SMACK SEED

Author: Patrick Njuki Kinene

MY SPORTS LIFE AT SMACK

I was a student at SMACK during the period of 1971-1974. I arrived at SMACK in the evening though I cannot remember exactly which day it was. I was escorted by my two sisters walking straight into Kiwanuka house dormitory in pretense that they were helping me to carry my suitcases and other belongings. This attracted a large crowd of S3 and S4 boys around my bed with many whistling and rather surprised to see two girls walking straight into their domain. As S1 students, we slept on double decker beds in the junior wing. I slept on the upper bed while James Babumba who had arrived earlier occupied the lower bed. He watched in surprise as his bed was invaded by the whole house as my sisters made themselves busy making my bed.

At SMACK one learned very quickly the ideal of excellency in whatever one embarked on in life. We the SMACKISTS, have probably one thing in common and that’s the zeal to excel. This comes as a result of many years of being in an extremely competitive environment with some of the sharpest brains in the land. At SMACK, we competed in practically everything from studies, sports, music, debating, dancing, fine art and decoration, House cleanliness, hygiene etc. I remember in the dining hall, on our table, Fred Kijjambu was always the fastest at finishing drinking the hottest cup of tea. This kind of competitive environment tends to produce people who will always do their best given the circumstances and probably this answers the question why many SMACK products tend to be very successful men in life.

After classes I did like all other new students did and went to find a sport which I enjoyed. Like many other boys, I joined my friends at the survival football pitch. This was a very brutal pitch as the name suggests, it was pure survival of the fittest and I remember some big guys shouting to others, “…if you miss the ball, do not miss the leg…..” After a week on the survival football pitch, I was tired of limping off the pitch every day and I just hope these days the school has done something in this area. Fortunately for me, I was a good friend of Godfrey Courtino (Kiwanuka House), the captain of Lawn tennis and his assistant John Kyalwazi who were already in senior 3 and senior 2 respectively when we were in senior 1. I dare say that John Kyalwazi was an excellent sportsman and talented individual. He was also in the SMACK football team and one of the fastest swimmers in the SMACK swimming team which always came home with the trophy after beating schools like Kings College Buddo in the finals at the Lake Victoria Hotel swimming pool in Entebbe.

John Kyalwazi and Godfrey Courtino took care of me and helped me to learn the Lawn Tennis game with a lot of patience which is very necessary if one wants to perfect the game. We used to play for many hours during the sports and sometimes we played beyond the games time until Bro. Kyemwa would come and chase us away from the courts to go for the evening preps. Courtino and I became such good colleagues that Kiwanuka house kept the Lawn Tennis cup for all the years we were on the SMACK team. I specifically remember playing a very tough match in the 1973 inter house competitions against Aziku of Kakooza House. The match went on from 12.00 noon to 4.30 pm without any lunch break. Fortunately by the time it ended I had won although I could hardly support myself to stand until I had taken a lot of water and salt.

That match is memorable to me because it shaped me and taught me never to give up and to keep high concentration despite thirst, tiredness and sweat. I understand after SMACK Aziku went on to become a police officer. How I would like to meet him again to reminisce over our match! I also used to play good matches against other colleagues including James Babumba, Anderson, Fred Makumbi, John Mukalazi and George Matovu to mention but a few. In 1973, I became the team captain of SMACK Lawn Tennis team when I was in S3 and during my regime up to 1974; we won over the Kings College Buddo team and many others which I can not remember just now.

[Patrick in action training back hand stroke]

MY CONTINUED STUDY AND SPORTS LIFE AFTER SMACK

After my O-level studies at SMACK in 1974, I did not meet the minimum aggregates for the combination I had applied for at SMACK. My wish was to do the PCB or PCM combination. I was offered PCM at another College which I did not trust so I declined the offer and applied to the Uganda Technical College, (today Kyambogo University), Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Though I was quite young and in a very trying condition at the time after the disappearance of my father at the hands of Idi Amin’s men, I have never regretted my decision to pursue a practical Engineering course.

In 1975, I was admitted at Kyambogo in the faculty of Electrical Engineering where I met another SMACK OB, the late Ssebugwawo, a brother to the late Sam Kiwanuka, one of the fastest runners in the SMACK athletics team. Ssebugwawo had been in the lawn tennis team at SMACK and was a fantastic tennis player. Together with him, we made a great team and won all the inter college games for 2 years in a row until the year he left. I became the College captain after Ssebugwawo left and continued to keep the SMACK flag flying high.

By 1979, after five years at Kyambogo, I had completed the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Electro Mechanical Engineering and a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Industrial Electronics. It was then when I had just finished my interview with Uganda Electricity board (UEB) and waiting for deployment and a period of further studies in maintenance engineering in the Netherlands, when the war broke out in Uganda and I fled to Sweden for my dear life.

MY WORK AND SPORTS LIFE IN SWEDEN

After getting a place to stay in Sweden, my body which was used to doing sports almost every day since S1 in SMACK started demanding for some exercise. I was introduced to the Tennis Club in the City where I lived and this was like lighting the tennis fire in me again. The club members were so surprised of my tennis skills that I became a big attraction at the club. I must say that despite the fact that I needed some more training to polish my in technic I was recognized as a great tactical player. Thanks to the hard training in the hot sunshine at SMACK, I was mentally so strong after all the competitive experience while at SMACK. I was soon admitted into the club team. It was so exotic for the Swedes to see an African playing on their team. This always attracted a lot of people to see with their eyes, this strange African.

When I started my studies in Robot Programming I was also requested to help with training and sparring of young players. Due this new added responsibility, the Club management sent me to Swedish tennis association to take an extra course in tennis training with specialty in technic, tactic and club management.

Although Tennis was of great help for me to get friends and learn Swedish so quickly one time it caused me some mishap, I will always remember. I had just completed my studies in Robot Programming and looking for a job when I got an invitation to an interview. I was glad and looked forward to that Monday when I was to report for the interview. Over the weekend prior to the interview Monday, I played a tournament for the Club Championships. I got to play against many opponents whom I did not really know before. There was this one guy I played with who would get so angry and threw his racket to the ground and cursed every time I outplayed him. I went ahead to win the match and went home satisfied with my sweat as I recollected that tough match against Aziku at SMACK.

The following Monday, I reported for the interview for this job I had applied for. I got a warm welcome by the secretary who informed his Boss of my arrival. When I was called into the office and looked in front of me, I realized immediately that I had lost the job since the guy I had beaten badly in the tennis match the day before was my would-be boss and the one waiting to interview me. He did not mention any thing about the match during our interview session, but as I was getting out the secretary made a satirical comment that she understands that I am a good tennis player! That was the last time I heard of this job.

SOWING THE SMACK SEED

After some time in Sweden I got my own children, Caxton and Brenda Njuki. They automatically followed me to my trainings since when they were just around 4 years of age. We played so many hours together that I could play a match with each of them by the time they were seven. As they grew up I became more involved in their tennis activities and soon my daughter, Brenda became Swedish champion for all girls of 12 years and above, a position she defended every year until she was 16 years.

[Brenda and her colleague Miriam after winning doubles in Sweden]

She became the Scandinavian Junior Champion at the age of 15 and played for the Swedish team in the European games. May be some readers are wondering as to what happened to Caxton! Well, Caxton opted not compete at the international level as he felt that it demanded a lot, both psychologically and physically. By the time Brenda was 18 years, she had turned professional and represented Sweden in International tournaments in Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, France and many others.

[Brenda in Abuja playing on the Profs tour]

Due to an injury she got under a challenger tournament in October 2017 Brenda has been forced to retire from professional tennis. She however continues with her University studies and works as a part time trainer. Caxton continued to study tennis technic sports management and worked as an assistant trainer to the Swedish junior team before he stated his own company, Caxton Sports Management in April 2010.

[Caxton, Swedish team Captain in the European games in Italy]

MY POSITION AS CLUB CHEF IN OXELÖSUNDS TK.

After many years of successful training and the successful performance of my children in tennis, I was chosen to be the chief trainer and the Club chief manager of Oxelösunds TK. When I think back at the day I got the tennis racket in my hand probably from Godfrey Coutinho or John Kyalwazi at SMACK just to escape the tough survival football pitch, I just say that God works in strange ways!

My advice to my Junior SMACK brothers; “Always do your best and use all the resources at SMACK fully, you can never know what will be of great value in your future life. I will forever be grateful to SMACK for giving me this opportunity to do things that have shaped my life and my children’s life. When we were young we took life at SMACK for granted but today I realize that it was as such a privilege.”