The Sunday News
Mandla Moyo, Sports Reporter
THE road travelled by high-flyers, a grouping of soccer stars from Makokoba and surrounding areas in Bulawayo has inspired many would-be soccer professionals.
Some of these high flyers are Marvelous Nakamba, Teenage Hadede, Kudakwashe Mahachi, Denny Phiri, among others. Their influence has seen many aspiring football players from the neighbourhood wake up as early as possible, go straight to the local Mazai community ground in Makokoba to sharpen their football skills.
What is fascinating is the discipline, passion, hunger as well a commitment of the boys in what they are doing, right from basic things like carrying the kit, laying the cones, among others. These are activities done before the arrival of the coach.
The support from the community has been overwhelming from the parents who shower the emerging stars with hugs, monetary rewards whenever they win football related awards like Player of the Tournament.
During the recently held Mahachi Foundation Cup the community led by Zifa Southern Region Chairman Andrew Tapela set the ball rolling by donating five balls towards the community grassroots football supervised by the local social soccer team Makwee.
Instead of being the melting pot for hard core thieves, the Makokoba community has a dream of becoming the melting pot of football players.
In fact, it is known as the home of football, with the Ndlovu brothers, Madida, Adam (late) and Peter, among other legends, coming from the suburb.
According to the secretary general of Makwee, Raymond Gombedza idols are a huge source of inspiration.
“The inspiration behind the passion of these boys is the desire to emulate most of the guys that came from Makokoba. At the same time in order to keep the boys away from trouble you need to keep them occupied because we don’t want them to indulge in things like drug abuse.
We even have peer educators from the community who educates them about all the things including HIV and Aids.
“Above all since soccer is now a profession, they are fully aware that it can provide them with a gateway to success in life. All these things are the motivation behind the boys and it keeps them pushing every day, not only in football but in other sports as well in search of that life changing opportunity.
“In addition to that the status of these high flyers is a major motivator to the boys, whenever they are free, they also take time to visit aspiring footballers including making football equipment donations towards this worthy cause,” said Gombedza.
@mandlamoyo3
