It is nearly impossible to talk about the 2018 World University Netball Championships (FISU) without mentioning Mary Cholhok Nuba’s name.

The She Cranes goal shooter/attacker put up a skillful performance for the Uganda side that ended a five-day world event which took place at Makerere University in September.

Nuba, who has already ascended to the senior national netball team the She Cranes, became a key protagonist throughout the tournament. The towering National Insurance Company (NIC) player stole the show with her meticulous shooting.

The 20-year-old Nkumba University student has intrigued adoring fans the most to the extent of being dubbed “the future of Uganda’s netball.” Standing at a height of 6ft and 7inches, Nuba is able to shoot goals without any resistance including the winning goal in the finals against defending champions South Africa that crowned the She Cranes champions.

Originally from South Sudan, Nuba has lived in Uganda since she was six. Off the court, she is sof-spoken, humble and does not seek attention. However, when Nuba puts her bib on and the whistle blows she transforms into a player who has the ability to dominate her much bigger opponents.

She Cranes’ national team coach Rashid Mubiru rightly says that Nuba is the future of the She cranes. “She is going to be the face of Uganda netball team in the near future. I saw her when we went to Zambia for the African championship tournament which we won. She combines her height and team spirit,” Mubiru says.

Mubiru mentions fierceness in Nuba’s play “combined with determination that she contributes to the Ugandan team and her hard working.”

Her teammate and the University netball team captain, Irene Eyaru, says that despite the discouragements Nuba received before, she has made her name in the most recent competitive tournaments, both in Zambia at the African netball championships and World University Netball Championships at Makerere. “In the past she was told that she was not strong enough to play or does not have the right build. But this motivated her to become faster, stronger and more agile to prove her doubters wrong,” says Eyaru.

Eyaru says it is these attributes which Nuba now capitalizes on to swoop and shoot the ball from any angle and distance.

However, when asked how she balances National team, NIC league trainings and games and University studies, the 20-year-old Nuba says that her and her teammates have got some favour from the University academic staff. “Nkumba University has given us some favour. We try to read when we are around, but in case we miss tests and coursework, they give us the test and we do it when we return. We are really not feeling under pressure at all,” she said during an interview with Journalism@Mak at Nkumba University.

Perhaps we would not be seeing player we are seeing today had Nuba listened to her uncle’s advice to abandon sports. After her father passed on, her uncle discouraged her from playing netball saying it would distract her from her studies.

“My uncle who brought us up after the death of our father never wanted to see me playing netball in my primary school.  He thought that it would affect my studies and yet it might not take me anywhere,” she says.

To address this, she continued honing her talent secretly. “He began realizing that I have the talent when I was at St. Mary’s College Kitende. He was really happy till now when he sees me playing for the national team and travelling to different countries,” Nuba asserts.

And yet Nuba is still dreaming big and hopes to one day to play in European leagues. “I have been able to travel countries. I was in Zambia, South Africa and some East African countries because of netball. I am now looking forward to playing in big leagues like in England or United States of America.”

Journey from South Sudan to Uganda

Nuba was born on January 3, 1998 to Agaar Chut Dhiew, a businesswoman and Nuba Maper in Rumbek, present day South Sudan. She left the country in 2004 due to the heightening armed conflict between the Sudanese government and the then rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

A year later, in 2005, the two sides signed a comprehensive peace agreement that briefly end one of Africa’s deadliest wars and lead to South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

After her father’s death, her uncle Makerchot Maper, who works with Nile Petroleum Corporation, the national oil and Gas Corporation of South Sudan, sought refuge in Uganda in 2004 and took over their custody.

Nuba says that it is not easy to live without a father but her uncle has ably filled the gap. “Our father died when we were too young and it is tough to live without a father. But my uncle has filled the gaps,” Nuba, the first born of six siblings and a mother of one narrates.

Nuba says that she has to play netball, become someone and be able to help her people regardless of the time factor.

But she feels that studies are very important for her future after retirement from the sport.

But for now, the future of netball in Uganda has Mary Cholhok Nuba’s name in it.