Four soccer coaches from Uganda, including the current Women’s National Team coach, Majidah Nantanda, will visit the University of Minnesota March 30-April 5 as part of the International Sport Connection (ISC) Coach Training/Cultural Exchange Program, which is funded by the SportsUnited Division of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology, and former advisee Jens Omli, assistant professor at Texas Tech University, are two of the partners in ISC. Last spring they hosted several Ugandan coaches in a training program in the Twin Cities designed to develop coaching curriculum for children and youth. Last May, Omli, Wiese-Bjornstal, lecturer Stacy Ingraham, and others traveled to Kampala, Uganda to provide training to 181 youth coaches in the area.
Coach Nantanda, along with Elsie Namagambe, Martin Mugabi, and Daniel Kiwanuka, will tour U of M athletic facilities, meet with kinesiology students and faculty members, and share their experiences with the community. All are invited to their public presentation on Friday, April 1, 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. in 206 Cooke Hall, to hear the coaches discuss sport in Uganda and their unique approaches to coaching youth soccer players.

In the photo above, taken in Kampala, are (l to r) Northern Illinois University coach Carrie Barker, Lisa Berg (former Gopher), Nantanda, Ingraham, and Wiese-Bjornstal.