There are few stories of self-made careers in Ugandan sport and Erick Kisero’s tale as a swimming announcer is one of them.
What started as a bid to throw life into a local schools’ competition in 2016 has now grown into a continental success story.
On the weekend of October 3-5, Kisero was behind the microphone at Borteyman Sports Complex in Accra, Ghana relaying the Africa Aquatics Zone II Swimming Championships to various audiences in the arena and those watching across the world. Zone II mostly has countries from Western Africa.
With wired headsets plugged in, pen and papers with all sorts of details, and a laptop in front of him, Kisero usually sits on two or more plastic chairs joined together to create a good elevation to view the action in the swimming pool. He always has an audio mixer to his left to juggle his voice and eligible sound that would not get the live or recorded event flagged on platforms like YouTube.
He is naturally loud but has enough talent to channel all sorts of emotion through the mic. He adds energy, colour, jokes, detail, and wit to bring his delivery together – and anyone can be the target of his lines; parents, swimmers, administrators, visitors, journalists, and coaches can all be targeted for the common good.
He is not your ordinary sports commentator that has to channel his voice through just a television or radio audience.
Kisero uniquely does it for both viewers on screen and those watching inside the arena. How he delivers by the minute and consistently for days remains a mystery and his secret.
‘The viewers need to understand what is going on, from minor details like the size of the pool, to big ones like what to expect. You need to also get the right balance of information for those who know a lot about swimming and those that have no idea,’ Kisero shares.
‘Zone II was a long course competition and everything was done on time. Every second counted and they broke so many records,’ Kisero says. That is where he feels he earned his dues.
‘You have to keep people up to speed with the performances in the pool. I had to be informed about the national records of each of the 17 countries, the zonal, continental, and world records because we had swimmers that also represent these countries at World competitions like the World Juniors,’ he continues.
Usually at home, Kisero would probably need to keep his notes to just the national and meet records.
Selfless
‘When you look at the times, Zone II is way ahead of Zone III (mostly East Africa), so generally their swimmers are better than ours. Our top times cannot sit as top times in Zone II.
‘Because you have many top swimmers from different swimmers at such a competition, there are also various safeguarding issues that come into play as you are trying to celebrate achievers and motivate those who might not have performed to expectation.
‘You have to pay attention to the details of every swimmer. Much as it is the same thing of presenting to the public, it is less strict at home. A gala at home could also have many more swimmers of various abilities.’
In local galas, Kisero also plays various roles, sometimes as a meet director. He wears many hats in the sport as a former swimmer, a coach, and a member of Uganda Aquatics’ executive committee (excom) representing the central region. That selflessness, which has seen him serve in other avenues like a promoter of water polo or open water swimming or as the federations errand man or a solver of crises, endeared him to many. So much that when he could not complete the vetting process in time for the federation position – to serve another term – and withdrew his candidature, delegates asked the newly elected excom to invoke article 14.4(8) of UA’s constitution to appoint him. It was duly done.
His passion has fueled his success and is set to open bigger doors.
Big dreams
‘When we do galas here, out there, other people watch. So I was just invited to Accra off the commentary I do for Uganda Aquatics. I have been invited to do the Africa Aquatics Championships next year (set for October 31 – November 14, 2026 in Kenya).
‘I now want to be able to reach the world level,’ Kisero, who is also a commentator and announcer at the ongoing Zone III Championships in Nairobi, adds.
His humble beginning started with inviting friends to watch him or his club at galas and they could not pick a thing.
‘They did not understand what was going on. They just saw swimmers going back and forth. I decided that I wanted to create a fun environment. I believe that if we teach more people about the sport, it turns them into fans. And our aim has always been to increase our social welfare and mileage as a sport.
‘Secondly, from my experience as a former swimmer and now national coach, I have a lot of experience and can tell swimmers what to improve on. More eyes watching them are always better than just those of their coaches. I can tell them during the commentary what they can work on just in case their coaches miss it,’ Kisero shares.
Coach Daddy
However, the analytical part has come with its own challenges for the man who sees himself as a father of all national swimmers – providing compassion, tough love, and building bonds across the swimming divide – and runs by the moniker “Coach Daddy”.
Those who might differ with his viewers accuse him of bias. They say every action in sport attracts as many opinions as the number of eyes watching it.
Now, try convincing thousands of parents, swimmers, and coaches packed into an arena at Kampala Parents School (KPS) with your views of an emotionally charged race in the heat of the moment. Then do it for each race in every age category over five days! Even silence can at times be mistaken for bias in such scenarios.
‘The criticism at the start helped me refine the role. For every swimmer that gets in, you need to tell people what they are doing. There is no preference, but just a desire to serve genuinely. If you fix the intentions, then you can serve properly.
‘I also know that criticism will always come in but what matters is doing the right thing,’ Kisero shares. These mantras are probably why everyone, even rival clubs, consider him a must-have at their galas. They have also helped him as a coach – a role he took up as soon as he retired in 2014.
‘The things I did not achieve as an athlete, I would want someone else to get right. If there is something I did not get right at 10 years, I cannot go back to being 10. I should be able to pass on such knowledge to someone at that age,’ Kisero shares about his motivation to get into coaching.
“I transitioned as soon as I retired. I had an opportunity in Australia to study at College level but after that, as other people focused on becoming doctors, lawyers, I chose to develop myself through sports. And even when the period got done, I continued to learn – even remotely. I have done various levels of swimming coaching courses but I have now gone beyond the approach of studying for a certificate that takes three or five days to achieve and gone into day to day continuous learning. How much knowledge can you give someone in three days?’
His club Altona, built from the ground up, is one of the top performing ones in the country. It has produced national athletes from 2017 but it has not been rosy. Even up to now, Kisero is a stickler for taking life lessons.
Managing success
‘The biggest lesson through my coaching years has been the need to manage success, especially, when it comes early. I have had some swimmers that got on the national team or even hold national age group records from an early age. But they went through tough phases and lost motivation to continue because, collectively, we did not handle success well.
‘We have been a top three club multiple times but we are now changing from team goals to giving the athlete the best opportunity to become the best version of themselves,’ Kisero says. Part of that plan is growing a bigger umbrella body called Pursuit where Kisero runs a weekly league mostly for Altona swimmers but open for all. These swim under franchise teams then regroup under Altona to compete in external competitions. Pursuit also offers swimming scholarships for members.
How does he share time among all his passions? Altona parents and swimmers have always felt undone by his choice to pick the microphone over the team during competitions.
‘The beauty is we do not do commentary every day. But my life is such that I am either at the pool deck coaching or serving as an official at a gala.
‘I believe a lot in preparation. Failure to prepare, means preparing to fail. The presence of a coach might add something to the team but we need to learn to develop without it or with the coaches we ask them to work with. When these swimmers are called to the national team, they are under the guidance of other coaches but they still perform. So, I do the job on deck every day of the week and let them show me on gala day what they have learnt,’ Kisero says.
Whether through the microphone, on the pool deck, or in administrative roles, Kisero’s voice continues to shape swimming in Uganda and beyond.
At a glance
Name: Erick Kisero
Role: Coach, announcer and commentator, Uganda Aquatics excom member representing Central region
Club: Altona
Swimming career:
2009-2014: Melbourne Vicentre Swimming Club
2010: Wyndham City Sharks
2012-2013: Ndejje University