Women soccer team complains about the lack of facilitation after one year of establishment. The team founder, a student who is passionate about football, now finds it hard to keep the team going with very limited support.
Mariette Umubyeyi, the team coach and founder, says that although the involvement of female students in sports needs to be appreciated the team is not facilitated as required.
“The team barely gets facilitated. The living conditions are not conducive to the players,” the coach-founder says.
According to her, players are struggling to find accommodation and other athlete-related incentives such as refreshments.
“As a coach, I would need to sign a contract as a professional backup. This would help me boost the quality of our performance,” Umubyeyi told Kaminuza Star.
Despite, the university officials are concerned to improve all the teams welfare and professional standards.
The Acting UR Specialist in charge of Well-Being, Sports and Culture, Albert Kayiranga, agrees that UR women players are not supported enough. He informs that the financial request for team facilitation was made, but not yet responded to.
“I know women players should have special motivation since we are trying to boost their participation in sports. I advocated the issue to the university officials in charge I am waiting for the reply,” Kayiranga says.
Kayiranga underlined that coaches at the University of Rwanda voluntarily train student players. “They [coaches] do not get contracts”, Kayiranga insists.
Although it was hard to find female players initially, Mr. Kayiranga says that currently the women team is well organized and he hopes that the overall financial plan for sports submitted to UR finance office will be implemented.
According to the Minister of Sports and Culture at UR Huye campus, Ms. Nicole Urwibutso, the recruitment is basically done during the induction week where students with sports talents provide their names. Ms. Urwibutso also stresses that the women’s soccer team’s main goal is to get as far as possible in various competitions.
Women’s soccer team was established in University of Rwanda for the first time in 2018 after realising that the level of participation of women in sports was insufficient particularly in football.
In the academic year of 2018-2019 the government had increased UR funding by over Rwf10bn.
