The Sunday News
THE probability of making a living as a professional athlete is extremely unlikely and the result of these hopes can be particularly damaging to feelings of self-worth and a positive outlook.
Sports poverty has robbed many people of their innate talent that they possess especially those who are not economically stable. People rarely fork out money to sponsor themselves in sports activity.
Hazel Ncube, a 22-year-old Lupane State University third year human resources management student is one of those few who sponsored herself to represent the nation in the 7th Federation of African University Sports games that were held in Kenya last month.
“As a Zimbabwe University Sport Association team, we used our monies to buy kit for the team so that we can represent Zimbabwe in Kenya. We did this because we love sports,” said Ncube.
She travelled to Kenya with other ZUSA members namely Jabulani Mpofu, the coach, two other athletes Tafara Munderi and Mqhelisi Moyo.
Ncube, however, added they received support from Lupane State University while Munderi was funded by Higher Life Foundation.
She went to Kenya as a member of the ZUSA team and performed to expectation, clinching two medals, silver and bronze, for triple jump and long jump respectively.
Born and bred in Plumtree, Ncube started doing sports when she was in Grade Two where she used to outshine her mates at Allan Redfern Primary School in the border town. Ncube cultivated her talent further at Usher High School where she won herself many titles.
“I was crowned the best sports person when I was in Form One at Usher and I also received a trophy for being the best athlete,” said Ncube
The energetic young woman was also included in the national team for the first time in 2010 for the Southern Africa Region Junior Championships games which were held in Mozambique. Unfortunately she got disheartened as she was nicodemusly left behind at City Hall in Bulawayo.
“I was not only disappointed but hurt when I was left behind at City Hall. It was my first time to be participating for the national team but unfortunately I was left behind for unknown reasons,” said Ncube.
She also mentioned that the lack of sporting facilities in the border town impacted negatively on her career.
“I wish to do sport professionally but there are no clubs to join in Plumtree. I only do training when I am at school but it’s not enough to enable me to compete against the best in the country,” said Ncube.
She also said her performance in Kenya was affected by the poor preparations before the FASU games as she faced stiff competition at the event but still managed to be among the winners.
“If I had trained harder, I was going to collect gold medals because I did not train that much to prepare for the games. I was only going for training twice a week,” she added.
However, Ncube said she is happy with her performance and is preparing to qualify in the next games.
“Going out to Kenya, representing the nation was a starting point and I am looking forward to qualify for the World University Games that will be held in South Korea next year,” she said.
Ncube said there is no one in particular who inspires her in sport.
“Sport is as inborn thing to me and I find myself excelling without training harder,” she said.
Ncube urged sponsors to help young talented athletes who are willing to take sports as a profession.
