House Spirit in Motion: Sports & the Colours That Bound Us – Part One

House Spirit in Motion: Sports & the Colours That Bound Us – Part One

As part of our Alumni Nostalgia Series, we revisit the house spirit that coloured our school days, the chants, the friendly rivalries, the laughter, and the lessons that still shape who we are. 

In this first feature, Marcos Erimu and Suzan Nambuya take us back to when houses weren’t just teams, but families.

For some of us, our story begins in Wamala House (Green),the home of fierce competitors, dancers, and dreamers. For others, it was the Red House, with a black shirt that made you feel invincible and looked good with everything. Whichever colour you wore, your house wasn’t just a name, it was your team, your identity, your pride.

For Marcos Erimu, Wamala House (Green) meant competition, camaraderie, and the thrill of performance. He remembers inter-house soccer and sports days, yes but what lingers most vividly is MDD, that annual explosion of music, movement, and artistic drama.

“I took part in a leading role in one of the creative dances,” he says, “and we actually emerged victors in that segment.” He pauses, then grins. “I don’t know if they still have those competitions, though…”

You can almost hear the laughter tucked in that sentence, the disbelief that something so epic, so defining, might now just be a nostalgic footnote.

Suzan Nambuya 

Suzan Nambuya’s memories are rooted firmly on the basketball court. Her house, Panther boasted four girls on the school basketball team. Victory, she recalls, was almost a given.

“We had a lot of girls who loved sports, so things were easy on our end,” she laughs. Easy, she says though anyone who’s played a full game in the Vienna heat might raise an eyebrow at that.

For her, though, it wasn’t just about winning. It was about teamwork, unity, and pride,lessons that outlast the black shirt they all swore by.

Sports Days carried a rhythm of their own. Marcos remembers watching the 25-lap race, wide-eyed, as Kimera and Kabale overlapped other runners four times. “At that age, we took it all for granted,” he says. “But looking back, those guys were ridiculously talented.”

The names and colours of houses may have shifted over time; cheetahs, panthers, and other exotic beasts now roam the fields but the heartbeat of house spirit remains. “History is invaluable,” Marcos reflects. “The school should preserve those memories, maybe even the monuments. I’m glad the original layout has endured.”

For Marcos, sports weren’t confined to any one season. They seeped into everything from the Royston League football to Sprite basketball, rugby, table tennis, and snooker. And then there were the improvised exam-week games, that strange creative energy that only appears when you’re supposed to be revising.

“A marble on the basketball court,” he laughs. “Yeah, a marble. We were that talented.”

Suzan still carries the thrill of those days in small, symbolic moments, medals, shared laughs, and that sense that every player mattered. “If one is lagging, we all do,” she says. That quiet creed of collective effort, shared triumph, and mutual responsibility, has outlasted the cheers and trophies.

The chants fade, the rivalries soften, and the roars of Sports Day may have grown quiet, but the memories? They’re stubbornly loud. The thrill of competition, the laughter after the race, the pride of belonging to something greater than yourself, those are the sounds that stay.

If they could speak to today’s students, it might be this:

“The joy of working together towards one goal with your friends is amazing.”- Suzan 

And perhaps they’d add, with a knowing grin:

“And yes, it was a marble. Don’t try that at home.” Marcos.

Whether you belonged to Wamala, Moser, Tiger, Lion, or Panther, the names may have changed, but the spirit behind each house never fades. Join us next time as we continue to reminisce.