Basketball in Africa

Charles Mutebi
Kampala

KCC Leopards star Becky Akullo leads a group of three nominees for the 2007 women's MVP (most valuable player) award. The basketball governing body FUBA will announce the winner at their end of year awards ceremony in Kampala on Friday.

But Linda Tamale and Hamala Miriam, her teammates and competing nominees, pose the collective threat of a water gun to an AK47 wielding soldier.

But winning the award will only be befitting for the KCC Leopards' lead point guard Akullo after a season in which she led the team to the 2007 national women's championship.

But while Leopards' maiden title success might have sparked joy unconfined for all with connections to City Council, Akullo was reflecting on the attainment of her second.

"It felt really good to finish the season as winners," adding, "It hurts to go empty handed after working hard for an entire year," she explained.

In 2003, the 24-year-old won her maiden national crown with the Makerere Sparks but the distinction in her contribution to the two conquests couldn't be more detached.

Then, she was a bit part player, whose presence on or absence from the team meant little to the bottom-line.

But Akullo's contribution to this year's champions has been immense.

On top of dictating the rhythm of her team's play throughout the season, she threatened to turn the production of game-high scores into a cast of one.

Slim and sleek, the left hander has maintained a lethal presence in Ugandan women's basketball for two consecutive seasons.

Many contend that Akullo was in better form last year even though Leopards failed to win the title.

Ironically, she had helped her team win all in the league but their four losses came in the playoffs, including the three in the finals that handed the title to the Lady Bucks.

Ultimately as a token of consolation, Uganda Sports Press Association voted her the best basketball player of the year.

Although Akullo doesn't wholly deny the allegation of a slump in individual form, she argues that another element of her game had to prevail.

"This year I realized that playing as team makes the unit stronger as it keeps everyone active," she responds.

And who can argue with a champion?

Over time, Akullo has developed a profound knack for quick success.

In 1998 she won the girl's national secondary schools Sprite tournament with Nabumali.

But that is not merely remarkable as the fact that the senior three student had begun learning the game that very year.

Her first championship came only two years into her time with the Sparks.

But she left the Makerere University-based team to join the Leopards after attaining a degree in tourism the following year.

Leopards finished fourth in their season debut, signalling a warning to whoever cared to notice. But that message clearly went unheeded as Leopards completed the league with a perfect winning record the season after.

But unlike 2006 when their rivals proved to the Leopards that an imperious league show can count for nothing in the playoffs, Akullo reveals they were determined to crown their league dominance by winning the national championship.

"Last year we lost because we had become complacent due to our league performances," she says.
Three quarters of the Leopards are former teammates of the KCC netball team and that cohesion only strengthened the winning formula that owes much to the inclusion of Akullo, Tamale and Hamala, the three squad players with no netball history.
Akullo herself hails from Lira as the first child of her mother's two siblings. Born to Langi parents, she spent her childhood in Mbale, where she completed her primary and secondary education before joining Makerere University in 2002.

Off the court, she works for a private firm.
Akullo is looking forward to Friday's awards ceremony with hope of being named FUBA MVP.