Issue 26 - June 2014

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The KEY RING is a monthly publication by the Kampala Baptist Church that seeks
to provide an avenue where men and women can share knowledge and
understanding of the word of God, experiences, encourage one another as the
older perform the act of paralambano to the younger.
Our prayer is that the Lord will speak to you through these publications.
1. When you hear the word
sports, what comes to your mind?
I think of sports as something that
involves both mental and physical work.
It is also an income generatng actvity
for those that have made it their job.
2. Do you consider yourself a sports-
man?
Professionally not. But as a hobby, I am
involved in sports a lot: as a football
player and a coach. I play soccer on a
weekly basis for fun and just to keep ft.
And I am not thinking of turning
professional because age has caught up
with me on that one.
3. Through your involvement with
sports, are there any life values you
have picked up along the way?
When you relate sports to real life, it teaches a lot: like how to control your temper. In
most cases, when you are a sportsman, you have
to learn how to control your temper because at
tmes it can result into punishment. If you are a
football player, you can be red carded, lose
concentraton and you can end up hurtng others
just because you are annoyed. In most cases
there are annoying things that you encounter
when doing sports but have to calm your temper
down otherwise it might cost you.
As a person involved in football, football is a
team game: you have to work as a team. You have to work with your teammates to
achieve something; you cannot be individualistc or selfsh. And I have learnt that.
Relatng with others is the other thing I have learnt. Because many tmes if you are on a
football team and do not have a good relatonship with your teammates, it might afect
the whole team. You therefore have to learn to cooperate with others, work with others
and relate with them well.
Those three are the major values I can say I have picked up through my involvement with
sports.
4. Many parents in Uganda would rather invest in other forms of training and educatng
their children other than sports. Is this a trend we should keep?
I dont think so. Because, when you look at the people going to school today, the number
is big, and yet the number of jobs out there is so small. I remember reading in the
newspapers not so long ago a story where Qatar Airlines advertsed some job vacancies.
Almost three thousand people turned up at Serena Hotel to do interviews for the eight
vacancies Qatar was seeking to fll.
We have seen many people getng rich out of the sport(s) they play. These are God given
talents and yet in most cases parents turn out to be the enemies of the children trying to
develop their talents. And they end up suppressing them thinking that their children will
only be successful when they go to school. I do not think there is anything more valuable
than that which is God given.
We have also seen many African footballers that have lived under the same harsh
conditons, the same poverty, coming out of this contnent and are now playing
professional sports, professional football, using their God given talents. And they are
earning a lot more than what the educated people here earn.
I think both educaton and talent development are important. Because, on the other
hand, not everyone that plays football ends up a professional football player. As a
coach, I always tell my boys that if it is tme for studies, study hard. If it is tme for
soccer do your best you never know where you will earn from.
It is also not good for a player to be illiterate. We have heard stories of illiterate
footballers that have been robbed by signing contracts they do not understand.
So I think it is important for parents to encourage development in these two areas. If a
child is interested in playing a certain sport, encourage them , empower them and walk
with them through that. I also normally tell my players that those two legs you have is
wealth you can use to earn something.
5. Sports does not seem to be popular in church life and on its calendar. Are we
missing out on anything as a church?
I think we are missing out. The kind of work I do is sports ministry where I use sports to
reach out to many youths out there.
There are so many young people out there who are not Christans but are interested in
these sports actvites. And I think if a church uses sports as an avenue to reach out to
them, it can be efectve. Take the example of football which is the most popular sport
in Africa. Many youths are interested in it. If
you therefore put in place football playing
opportunites, I bet you will get very many boys
who you can minister to.
In my work, we take foot balls and
accompanying kits to playing grounds, the
youths gather, we play with them and afer
that we minister to them.
So I think that as we look at evangelizing, let us
consider diferent avenues. Let us not just
focus on the orthodox crusades approach. That crusade might reach out to only a
certain type of people.
I also think it is good to bring in variety,
for example music and sports, to the
actvites churches have. Not all youths
might be interested in music and may be
prefer sports. This will help them spend
their tme well.
I remember while I stll lived in Mityana,
we used to have volleyball every Sunday
and instead of youth struggling with how
they were going to spend their tme, they
used to gather somewhere and we play
volleyball. And people from the
community, including non Christans,
would join us and as a way we were able
to really minister and reach out to them.

SPORTS
Tonny Mwesigwa
What i s on your mi nd?
What would you like the next Key Ring topic to be?
Write to us using the email address below. Thank you
Upcomi ng Event s
7
th
June - Sunrise Prayer Walk
20
th
June - Worship Night
Pl eas e pl an t o be par t of t hes e wonder f ul t i mes of f el l ows hi p
both educaton and talent
development are important
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