Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube, [email protected]
VULINDLELA Moyo’s death has demonstrated sport’s power to break barriers.
Moyo died in Bulawayo’s Mpilo Hospital on Sunday morning after a long illness.
Volleyball was once a fast-growing sport with a footprint at almost every secondary school and uniformed services centres.
Moyo was among the teenage boys in the mid 1980s who were attracted to the sport. His move from Donkwedonkwe in Matobo District opened him up to a more refined version.
He was part of the Entumbane Secondary School team of 1987 and 1988.
They were not among the best eight schools, as ahead were St Columbus, Ihlathi, Luveve, Gifford, Sobukhazi, Inyathi, David Livingstone and Milton High School.
His almost 1,95m height could not escape attention and his hard game, wanting to earn every point made him a recognisable figure.
I first met him when Entumbane visited Inyathi Mission in Bubi District. We beat the urban visitors but at the end of the final set, he crossed under the net to shake my hand. He said if I was their setter on the afternoon, Inyathi would not have won that 1987 encounter.
We were to engage in many matches in the league and tournaments.
But it wasn’t until 1989, after leaving our respective schools that we met. This time we were budding club players, and he, however, had crossed town to Hamilton for his A-levels.
We joined Vikings Volleyball Club, which had Francis Moyo and Raerburn Ndebele who had just left Sparrows Thabani. A couple of boys from Sobukhazi who were part of the volleyball team doubled up as members of Vikings Drama Club.
Among them were Augustine Ngulube, Justin Sibanda, Nzuwa Elvis Moyo, Thulani Moyo and Membe Phiri. We laboured with one heavy ball for months having joined the Matabeleland Volleyball Association First Division.
Moyo broke into the first team first as his height and spiking prowess showed promise. I was shorter than the other setter/playmaker Justin and besides I felt he had played with a majority who were ex-Sobukhazi Secondary School students.
That I was not from Mzilikazi also played a part in my being sidelined. Despite being a utility player, the bench was the coach’s preferred position for me as the taller guys got the nod.
It was not until the following year that we discovered that we were relatives with the club now playing as Highlanders Volleyball Club as part of the then vibrant Bosso Sports Association.
Moyo continued to rise as a club asset, being among the regulars along Francis Moyo, Ndebele (Raerburn) and Sibonginkosi Ndebele.
By 1993, I had become the regular setter and we won our first tournament the Mid-Season Gala and the Zimbabwe Anniversary Trophy, a piece of silverware still kept at his house. Highlanders were now playing second fiddle to Sparrows Thabani and Unit Fairbirdge.
As an outstanding blocker and attacker, Vulindlela became part of the provincial team for the national championships held in Gweru.
With the likes of Clifford Makunike, Vulindlela, Patrick Ncube, Nsikelelo Mlauzi and Herbert Mutisi we won the Inter-Provincials.
Vulindlela was drafted into a large pool of players to prepare for the 1995 All-Africa Games in 1994. The following year he made the cut among the 12 for the tournament. I left him at Highlanders Volleyball Club that year and formed Bulawayo Raiders. He was attached to the Highlanders’ name; mine was the sport.
When he heard that I had left because of some flimsy reason, where younger players are said to have told coach Ndebele (Raerburn) that they can’t play because of some mythical belief that we are too heavy (siyabasinda/kuremera) for the boys, he joined me at Raiders.
It was a team that never trained but was playing league with the team drawn from schoolboys who were at Gifford High School, Ihlathi and Entumbane among them Noel Munzabwa, a Zimpapers Sports Hub Correspondent now based in Swaziland.
Motivated by that, Vulindlela joined and took over as coach and player, while the management was left to me.
We finished fourth behind Unit Fairbridge, Sparrows Thabani and Highlanders.
After the All-Africa Games, in which I took a lot of verbal insults from the men’s national team, I visited Botswana during the December/January holidays.
On my return, I found Vulindlela, Itsanang Abu Basuthu, Herbert Mutisi, Fortune Sithole Ndlovu and Edson Sibanda on the court where Raiders trained.
I did not know what to do. Go to Court A or B at Tshaka Youth Centre and see who follows.
Vulindlela came over and said: “We now have these players at Raiders.” I did not respond and Edson, an outside hitter and defender in the national team but a centre hitter I had literally developed at
Highlanders, came to me and asked us to bury the national team hatchet.
I stayed as manager and setter while Vulindlela continued with his role as coach and player.
The 1996 Pre-Season tournament went to Raiders and a week later, we were in Gweru for the Zimbabwe Open Championships.
As a new team, we swept past all before us, and in the final, we met Black Rhinos, who were coached by former senior and Under-20 national team coach Martin Dururu.
Vulindlela played one of his best games, confident on the serve, steady in reception, calculating in attack and solid on the block.
That is when he announced his arrival as a coach on the national scene.
Raiders was ever present in tournament finals with his team playing some very good combinations between medium and fast pace attack. His speciality in the field was the high ball out called 5-4 back then, and the medium set, 4-3.
He could lose his temper after a couple of failed attacks and turn the hit on the setter.
A good setter absorbs all the pressure and never loses his cool.
Some days it could get so heated up between me and him. He hated losing yet my belief was that volleyball is at a level where there is nothing to fight for except to play and increase numbers. That became a sore point as I would laugh or smile even when chips were down.
A high set hit on to blockers by him would be the start of our fights on the court.
If that foiled attack was low I would add another two metres high, if he complained, make it three, then in the heat of the game set an even lower effort and he hits a brilliant cross-court, it would be all smiles and a “good set Thabani.”
When under pressure, he had no friends and would turn on the younger boys in the team and blame them for the poor run on the field.
Agitated, I would whisper to him that he is costing the team with his poor reception and attacks.
Immediately, Inambawo Ndlovu or Taurayi Mlauzi would be asked to warm up to replace me.
Because I handled pressure well and was confident with daredevil fast attacks, sets with Morgan Phiri, Ford Mutate, Peter Chitashu, Sere Chirenje, Ernest Valentine Mangava, Ernest Zvinumwe, James Sibenge, David Chikukutu, Gavin and Rodney Alwanger, Derrick Ibrahim, Kevin Nel and Wellington Mudzimu, the rest of the team would want me back and continue playing as if there were no issues.
After the match, the two foes from Kezi would walk together to his flat for a meal prepared by his wife, Sitshengisiwe Mazaiwana.
What happened on the court ended there; it was never discussed elsewhere.
Vulindlela was a fighter on the court and played as if that match offered a gateway to a professional contract. He wanted his players to put 110 percent.
On a winning set, he was a delight to have around. He wanted justice too for his team and would lose his temper if he felt umpires were against Raiders.
After Raiders, Vulindlela coached ZRP Raiders, Railstars, Lycans, Spartans and Shalom of Victoria Falls.
As his body leaves for Kezi in Matobo today to his final resting place, with burial set for tomorrow morning, volleyball has lost a great volunteer, a committed coach who saw every volleyball player as a Zimbabwe kid deserving a place in the teams he coached, including the women’s national team.
He was a good reader of the game and technically sound in his training programmes from his first assignment at Bulawayo Raiders.
Outside volleyball, Vulindlela loved Arsenal, Highlanders and reggae music.
He never smoked, didn’t drink and hated being in crowded places.
Vulindlela eventually tolerated his players having a drink; if he had his way, he would have worked with a bunch of teetotalers.
Moyo scooped Coach of the Year, Tournament Best Server, Blocker and Attacker on numerous occasions.
Volleyball has been robbed of an icon who at 58 still wanted to produce stars for the future.
Rest In Peace Moyo, I hope you meet our mentors, Sairota Banda, Silas Nyabadza, Nicholas Mavunde, Patrick Ncube, Jeff Mlauzi and Jairos Nyirenda and advise them that you carried on their legacy and built your own to be remembered for decades to come.
