What Mande Baker did not achieve as a player, he is doing it as a coach.
The former Charging Rhino utility guard, despite failure to win anything tangible with his club, guided International School of Uganda (ISU) boys to silver last weekend.
ISU represented Uganda at the American International Schools of South and Eastern Africa Championship held in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The Ugandans had a wonderful run in the four-day showpiece, beating Johannesburg 58-38 in the preliminaries and the hosts 41-29 in the semifinals.
Final hurdle
It was at the final hurdle that fatigue got the better of the boys, majority of them aged 15. That game ended 39-34 in favour of Kenya, denying the ISU boys a chance to win gold like their female counterparts did in 2005.
“Even with silver I am still contented. The boys had failed to impress in several editions of the tournament but were brilliant this time round,” Baker, who is also one of the leading referees in Uganda, told Daily Monitor at the weekend.
Baker singled out Thomas Campbell, Michael Sheffer and captain Dilton Kawalya as the most outstanding players for ISU. The tournament attracted teams from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe