THE WOMEN volleyball team is one of the most successful and well organised teams in the country. It has produced some of the biggest names like Denise Mutatsimpundu, Brigitte Mutakwampundu and Charlotte Nzayisenga among others.

However, we also have new kids on the block like APR’s Grace Karigirwa who previously featured for Ruhango volleyball club and Lycee de Nyanza (LDN).

Early days

As a child Karigirwa did not have any particular interest in sports until she joined secondary school.

When she moved to Ruhango and Nyanza for secondary school in 2005, she picked interest in volleyball and has never turned back.

In 2008, she played for former league side Ruhango VC before featuring for her school team, Lycee de Nyanza in 2009 and 2010.

"Back in the days, I wasn’t interested in sports but when the time came, I went for volleyball, which to me is the best sport,” she told Saturday Sport.

APR career

 Karigirwa joined the two-time reigning champions APR in early 2011, four months after finishing her secondary school education and consequently ended her relationship with Lycee de Nyanza.

However, in her own admission, she did not have a successful maiden season at the military side as Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), coached by former APR coach; Jean Ndayikengurikiye won everything that season.

"I had a rough first season at APR when our biggest rivals (RRA) won every single title contested for locally including the league title.

But as a team, we moved on and worked harder for the following season,” she said.

Karigirwa helped APR to overcome RRA to win the 2012 league title before retaining it the following year.

She was also part of the APR team that competed at the Africa CAVB Women Club Champions’ league of 2013 staged in Madagascar where they finished sixth out of 16 teams.

This year, she was APR’s cornerstone at the Africa Women Champions League championships held in Carthage, Tunisia from April 17 to 28.

The league defending champions left Kigali aiming to reach the last four stages but finished tenth with Algeria’s GSP winning the title which had been won back to back five times since 2009 by Prisons of Kenya.

Future plans

"I’m still in love with volleyball, and I feel I still have a lot to accomplish before going for a different challenge.

I am happy at APR and I’m even looking forward to more success as far as retaining the league title this year is concerned,” Karigirwa said when asked about his future plans.

"It would be a golden opportunity if I get a chance to play in a better championship; Kenya is my preference because it would really improve my game,” he added.

On plans to retiring he said he is still too young and very ambitious to even start thinking of retiring.

 "All I think about now is how best I can help my team to achieve more success. I’ll start to think of a different challenge when I turn 30 but now,” she noted boldly.

Who is Karigirwa?

Karigirwa is the last born from a family of three children (two boys and one girl). She was born in 1991 to Straton Rwabusigiri and Cansilida Mukamana in Nyamata, Bugesera district, Eastern Province.

The dark-skinned Karigirwa attended Nyamata-based Mayange primary school before heading to Ruhango district-based Kamambi College for O’level.

In 2010, he completed A’ level at Lydee de Nyanza where he specialised in Information Technology.

Currently, the 23-year-old is a third year student at the Independent University of Kigali (ULK) pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Finance.