Maseno University is gearing up to host the 13th East African University Games, an event scheduled to run from December 16th to 20th, 2024. This significant gathering will bring together universities, from the East African Community showcasing a variety of sports competitions and promoting a sense of unity and excellence.
A Fusion of Talent and Competition
The East African University Games will include a range of sports such as football, rugby, netball, volleyball and hockey. Additionally indoor activities like chess, badminton and scrabble will be highlighted at the event offering a platform for both team based and individual sports enthusiasts.
Preparation and planning
A crucial delegates meeting was held at Maseno University on May 22 2024. The meeting was attended by leaders from the Federation of Eastern Africa University Sports (FEAUS) and representatives from 23 universities across East Africa including Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya. The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss the games assess the facilities readiness and ensure that all logistical and administrative arrangements are in place.
Key Discussion Points
The meeting had an extremely broad spectrum of issues that pertained to the smooth conduction of the games. These aspects included:
- General Entries and Deposit Payments: How to ensure that the universities would register their interest in the event on time and have their financial commitments made in a timely manner.
- Team Sport Announcements and Selections: Coordinating entries on the teams and organizing a selection process for the same.
- Final Technical Delegates Meeting: Finalizing the technical issues and regulations relating to the games and ensuring that the same were very clear.
- Publication of General Program and Fixtures: Coming up with a program that will detail the events alongside the match fixtures.
- Pre-Games Symposium: Deliberation on relevant issues and providing insights before competitions.
- Deadlines for Individual Entry and Final Payments: Providing closure dates to guide orderly participation
- Arrival, Competition, and Departure Dates: Logistics of travel arrangements, accommodations, among other stay requirements for all participants
Addressing the Past Challenges
For a better quality of games, delegates revised issues from the past performances. Paramount issues discussed included;
- Student Eligibility:To be basically marked by placing an age limit at 25 and avoiding falsification of identification credentials.
- Participation Restriction: No graduate students are allowed to participate in the competition.
Adherence to Payment Schedules: Ensure Financial compliance - Time Constraints on Matches: Time for every match shall be strictly cafe through
- Quality of the Games: Should be of a higher level than those in high school events.
Review of the Federation Handbook
During the meeting delegates also went through the FEAUS handbook containing roles,
rules, and regulations along with consequences, for games. This review aimed at ensuring that all participants are well informed and ready to follow the guidelines.
Maseno University’s Commitment
Professor Julius O. Nyabundi, the Vice Chancellor of Maseno University expressed his appreciation for choosing Maseno University as the venue for the Heads of Delegation meetings and the 13th edition of the games. He suggested that the secretariat meetings be permanently moved to Maseno University citing its facilities and comfortable accommodations for participants. He highlighted how these sporting events would encourage sharing experiences and nurturing talent development.
Historical Context and Achievements
The East African University Games have a history starting from the edition in 1999 at Egerton University. Kenyatta University hosted the 2004 edition. It also organized the 10th All Africa Games in 2022. In December 2022 Ndejje University in Uganda hosted the edition where Ndejje emerged as the champion, with an impressive tally of 59 gold medals. Makerere University and Makerere Business School secured 21 and 15 gold medals respectively in that competition.