The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
EMBRACING sport at an early age has been proven to be the beginning of achieving great results at the summit of any discipline.
According to research, Formula 1 champion, Lewis Hamilton started go-kart racing when he was just eight while at 11 former world number one golfer, Tiger Woods was beating his father on the course and tennis ace, Serena Williams began intensive tennis training at the age three.
With that wisdom, Alice and Fredrick Chapepa decided to get their two daughters, Kudzaishe (9) and Kuzivaishe (6) into the world of tennis as they started out their primary schooling.
Despite not having played at sport at a professional, the Chapepas decided to give their children a hand at tennis as they came to realise the benefits of succeeding in sport.
However, it would not be enough to introduce the siblings to the sport without ensuring their gradual progression in tennis enabling them to ably compete with their peers.
Kudzai and Kuziva have been steadily improving their game since they joined the Girls College Tennis Academy three years ago.
After showing promise and potential by ranking among the best in their respective age groups nationally, the Chapepas decided to introduce the siblings to the regional circuit, taking them to competitions outside the country.
While local tennis players have struggled against regional opposition, Kudzai proved to be in a class of her own as she scooped the 2017 Toyota Centre Botswana Junior Open (under 10) that was held in August in Gaborone.
The Carmel School pupil also walked away with the gold at the 2017 Gauteng East Junior Open (under 12, Gold Division) which was held in Benoni, South Africa last month.
Kudzai’s winning streak on the regional scene came on the back of improved performance locally when she won five of the seven tournaments she entered in the girls Under-10 green dot category.
She won the Bulawayo Open, Midlands Open, Manta Open, Harare Open and Masvingo Open while she took third place in the Tarryn-Leigh De Souza Memorial and Zimbabwe Closed.
Her coach, Adam Joelson said Kudzai has had a brilliant season and attributed this to her hard work at the courts.
“She is spending most of her time at the courts and the good thing is she can easily pick up instructions and implement them. She is on the courts on a daily basis and is not shy to put in the hours when it comes to training.
“While she finished 8th in national rankings last year, I think Kudzai will be at the top this year because no other competitor has won as many tournaments as she has,” said Joelson.
Kuziva, who is at Dominican Convent School, has also been steadily improving coming fourth out of eight girls in the Toyota Centre Botswana Junior Open while the Gauteng East courts proved too big for her as the cut off age was seven years and she had play in the under 12s green dot.
After dominating the under 10’s red ball last year she moved to the orange ball in the same age category.
Kudzai said she has been motivated to work harder by her parents and is looking forward to scale the heights of the sport.
“We have a lot of encouragement from our parents but when we also watch international tennis games we get inspired to better our game and play at the top level,” she said.
Their mother, Alice said they hope introducing the girls to regional tournaments will gradually ease them into a higher level of the game as they face competitors from other countries.
“One gets better as they face different competitors and we felt this is the time they play against opponents from different countries. It is also giving us the opportunity to manage Kudzai’s transition from the under 10 to the under 12 age group.
“As they grow they will have to widen the scope of the players they compete with so as to improve their game,” she said.
Joelson said, together with the other GCTA coaches, Thesley Mufunda, Nqobile Sithole and Sijabuliso Jubane, they would be hoping to produce sibling stars in the mould of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena.
