By Jill Ainebyoona

The university working environment poses challenges for students, lecturers and administrators due to their busy schedules and sedentary lifestyle. 

Eric Tumwesigye, a gender and development specialist in the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate at the School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, faced this reality when he saw a friend's limb amputated due to diabetes, and other colleagues dying due to cardiac arrest. 

Members of the Tek Sports and Recreation Community in one of their workout sessions

The nature of such Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) that affect people so silently they have no idea what is happening frustrated him and so in January 2021, he decided to start a sports community he named Tek (Teams Empowered and Knowledgeable) Sports and Recreation Community. He hoped that Tek Sports was the gentle answer that would turn away the wrath of deaths attributable to NCDs in the university community, given that it offered a free platform for weekly exercises from 5pm to 7pm, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Fortunately, the university Sports and Recreation Department offered him an outdoor workout space at the university swimming pool premises.

Tumwesigye says that over 4,000 university community members have been trained in different physical activities and given physical and online lessons on nutrition, including a public lecture on the same. In total, Tek Sports has held over 288 classes dubbed the Mak Wellness Sessions.

“On a daily basis, we receive between 20 to 25 trainees, which makes over 70 trainees every week, including students and administrators,” says Tumwesigye, adding that the sessions have benefited many students and administration members as many have found a family and a good network of friends in Tek Sports.

Eligibility to participate

According to Tumwesigye, the initiative is a non-commercial intervention, since they know well that most of their clients are students with limited financial capacity. 

“If we want a world of adults living healthy and strong, we must then pay careful attention to them,” he adds. Tumwesigye hopes to reach out to every student and staff of Makerere University to encourage many to subscribe to the Mak Wellness Sessions conducted by experienced instructors. Tek Sports also welcomes the alumni who equally seize the opportunity to get in shape and keep fit along with continuing students.

Eric Tumwesigye, a gender and development specialist in the Gender Mainstreaming Directorate at the School of Women and Gender Studies

Nicholas Kanyesigye, a graduate of Makerere University is proud to train with the Tek family as physical activities are part of him. “I love aerobics, dream about it, and I have never missed any session since January 2021,” he says.  He adds that the main challenge is water from the swimming pool, which often poses a challenge as it pours onto the workout ground. Nicholas also loathes inconsistency in students’ attendance as he believes that it affects their competence. 

Losing weight

Reginah Birungi, a student of Bachelor of Commerce says she heard about Tek Sports from friends, and when she tried it, it was helpful. “Through training, I have lost weight, from 90 to 75kg, which works for me. I also take extra classes with the coach, which has kept my consistency,” she says.

Enock Kato, a student of Petroleum and Geoscience says he has not only had fun with fellow trainees but has built and maintained his body shape through these sessions.

Hadijah Naggayi, a practising land surveyor who joined Tek Sports earlier this year confesses that she has found her fitness partners. Their encouragement has helped her develop a passion for training others. “I am happy that through attending regular sessions, I have reduced weight, which is my greatest achievement since I joined. I initially weighed 80kg, which was worrying, but I have cut to 72, I am now working towards reducing it up to 65kg,” says Naggayi.

Resources needed

The initiative, however, comes with a hefty cost on equipment — speakers for the music, aerobic boards, skipping ropes, mats, dumbbells et cetera. Tumwesigye has managed to secure some equipment with a little money from his pocket and that collected by participants when they come to exercise, ranging between Shs1,000 to Shs.10,000, and sometimes more.

Currently, Tek Sports has no standard fees, and among the targets is ensuring that participants can pay Shs10,000 per session, for paying instructors. To mobilise participants from other institutions, at least Shs100,000 per session would suffice.

Tumwesigye plans to work with other universities to identify spaces where regular Tek Sports activity can be conducted. He also hopes to mobilise more physical instructors to train students and staff on structured schedules as well as support the instructors to attain professional training and optimise their capacity to handle varying categories of clients, including Persons With Disabilities.

He believes that this will have profound results beyond the prevention of NCDs among students and staff, such as academic improvement, improved quality of life, and discipline, among other benefits.

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