The Western Basketball Club Championship will be happening on the 1st and 2nd of March at St Joseph’s Vocation School, Mbarara, commonly known as JOVOC.

The 2-day event is the first of its kind and will see 22 teams competing for the inaugural Championship.

Background

For the last 12 years, the JOVOC open has been happening as an opener to the league.

However, the organizers saw how big it had become and decided to split it into 2, the clubs tournament and a school’s tournament.

“We have been running the JOVOC open for the last 12 years which used to be for clubs and secondary schools.

However, the tournament has grown, and we decided to separate the clubs and the school’s tournament,” Vincent Mutahunga, organizer of the tournament, said.

The Club tournament shall now be called the Western Basketball Club Championship while the JOVOC open shall remain but for schools.

He also gave an update on the JOVOC open;

“The JOVOC open shall happen on 8th, March and it will only be for secondary schools”

The tournament is going to be very fun and the winners in each category shall walk away with 2 million shillings.

For the other participants and fans, there will be a lot of goodies to be won, medals, and many other things.

So far 22, 17 men and 5 women teams have confirmed their attendance.

“We are expecting clubs from Kampala, Mbarara, Fort Portal and the whole country”

“This is an off-season tournament and it is supposed to give teams an opportunity to test themselves” Vincent elaborated on one of the purposes of the tournament.

Notable teams that have confirmed their attendance include 2023 NBL finalists JKL Lady Dolphins and KIU Rangers for the ladies.

KIU Titans, UMU Flames, UPDF Tomahawks, and Wazeei look like the early favorites in the men’s category.

The 2 finalists’ men’s teams will each get a jersey set from Kagwirawo, while the finalists for the ladies shall get a jersey from UBA.

The organizer of this event is Beyond Basketball Organization which organized the first season of the Western Basketball League in 2024.

Wazeei emerged as the Champions after defeating Fort Portal Basketball Club and the 2 teams shall be looking forward to facing each other in the tournament.