The State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang has promised to start looking into the construction of a modern national skate park at the Namboole stadium.
Ogwang made the pledge over the weekend as he officially opened the Kiteezi Climate Skate Park – the first public concrete community skateboarding facility located in Kiteezi, Lusanja, Wakiso District.
Officially introduced among Olympic sports at the Tokyo 2020 Games, featuring park and street disciplines, skateboarding is rapidly gaining popularity across African countries, including Uganda.
Every teenager involved in the skating sport dreams big, among others, representing the country at the Olympic Games.
The sport enthusiasts gathered at the newly constructed modern skateboarding grounds in Kiteezi, Lusanja -Wakiso District on Saturday, as the community witnessed the creativity, style, and technical skill displayed by young men and women in the sport.
“I want to thank the proprietor and the funders of the facility because as a government, we have not invested enough in this sport to be honest. We can afford to look for land where we can put a national skating park which is good to host international competitions,” noted the minister.
Ogwang promised to begin the process of ensuring that space is made available for the construction of a national skate park at the Namboole stadium.
“Our athletes have been writing to me asking me to use the Namboole stadium parking. But I have been told that all they need is for us to get land. As you know we have about 120 acres of secured Namboole land. We can sit as a ministry and see where we can have the facility. Namboole land is for sports only and as a government, we have undertaken a multipurpose sports infrastructure development. We can also work with government schools,” noted the minister, who advised the skating organizers to have a standby ambulance because the sport is injury prone especially with amateurs.
Moses Dungu, the Uganda skateboarding federation said that it was good for the country to have such a facility.
“I am happy that we have got a third skate park which is also the biggest in the country. This helps to grow the sport and identify talents,” he noted.
Cynthia Kemigisha, the founder of climate skaters in Kiteezi, says it is a milestone to have a standard skatepark. “We have had a bad skatepark but have the best athletes. This is what attracted our partners ‘make life-skate life’ to build for us this standard skatepark which will groom more talent in Africa.
“Being that our skatepark is at the international standard, we are thinking of organising regional and international competitions,” she said.
Skaters believe that the new facility will facilitate talent development and growth.
The skate park will serve more than 100 young skaters a week, with a strong focus on girls’ participation, environmental justice, and youth empowerment through skateboarding.
