Veronica Gwaze-Zimpapers Sports Hub
FOR 13 days in Nairobi, Kenya, Enesi Chavarika refused to “hide” or be intimidated as netball fans brutally attacked her on social media.
Instead of letting her find a soft landing in her first senior netball team call-up, the fans would simply not accept the lanky shooter who stands at 1,90 metres in height.
They even chose to ignore the confidence she oozed every time she donned the white and red of the Gems.
Whenever the ball got into the shooting third, she called for a pass while sealing defenders with her back and never lost confidence to take the shots.
The performance was still raw, neither perfect nor polished.
But it all felt familiar.
It felt more like the late Pauline Jani. It is exactly three years since Zimbabwean netball lost their most feared goal shooter Jani.
The towering shooter had retired from international netball in 2019, just after making a historic World Cup debut in Liverpool, leaving behind a void in the Gems fold that has proved difficult to fill.
In fact, since then, the Gems have been searching for answers.
The goal shooter position has presented quite a headache for the national netball team, and no one has really stepped up to lay claim to the spot.
Australian-based star Joice Takaidza, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Queens’ Sharon Bwanali were at some point believed to be the solution to the problem, yet still no perfect answer came.
Another Australian-based shooter Nalani Makunde also came around the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town, giving the nation hope.
Her availability has always been inconsistent due to the association’s financial challenges and other reasons.
In all these years, Gems coach Ropafadzo Mutsauki has tried countless combinations, calling up a number of girls who have the height and shots, yet he has never quite found an answer to his problems.
Jani was a nightmare for defenders across Africa and beyond.
Her towering frame, aggression in the shooting circle, the way she commanded her feeders and the confidence with which she turned half-chances into points — that was Jani.
Yet, since her death, those memories have become moments that netball enthusiasts look back at and smile through the pain.
But in Kenya, at the recent Africa Cup-cum-World Cup Qualifiers, for the first time in years, it appears the Gems may have finally found the perfect replacement in Chavarika.
Or at least, the closest thing to it.
That Chavarika has confidence and courage is no surprise.
After all, she was plucked from the 2014 National Youth Games by Pamushana, where she was throwing discus and javelin at the national jamboree.
Offered a netball scholarship, she was converted into a netball player.
Somehow, netball came natural to her and in no time she was spotted by RioZim and handed a professional contract in 2019, with a job at the mine.
“Just after joining them, Covid-19 and maternity came, so, for two years I was grounded,” she said.
Bouncing back in 2024, she had a brief stint before finding a new home at Rainbow League side Santa Queens.
Earlier this year came her first Zambezi Eagles call-up for the Telkom Netball League and Malawi Test Series.
Then in August, much to her surprise, came the big one, a senior national team call-up.
The Santa Queens shooter did not arrive in the Gems camp with hype.
In fact, her inclusion in the Qualifiers squad drew criticism and questions around merit, her experience and why a relatively unheralded shooter deserved a call-up ahead of more familiar names.
Yet, from inside the camp, it was a different view altogether.
From close observation, Chavarika has the raw “tools” that made the late Jani unplayable at her peak.
“Chavarika will be a phenomenal player in a very short time, I see so much potential in her — the height, shots, aggression and discipline, she has them all,” said Gems’ technical adviser Fred Mugerwa.
“Most people may not understand her now but I am confident of what I see and if she remains level-headed and hardworking, she is the next continental star.”
In many aspects, she has the potential to match or even exceed Jani, and what even makes her a cut above is what Jani struggled with.
Those who worked with the late Black Mambas star agree that Jani was brilliant, but combustible.
She was rowdy, sometimes difficult to coach, quick to react and resistant to correction in the heat of battle.
Undeniably, that temperament was part of her fire, but it sometimes burned the team.
Chavarika is different.
Teammates and coaches alike describe her as disciplined, coachable, always up for corrections from mates and anyone who has notes to share.
It might be early, but the potential in Chavarika, who is sometimes deployed as a defender, is difficult to ignore.
“When I started working with her, I was reminded of a younger Jani. Chavarika’s potential is something worth banking on,” said Mutsauki.
“She is well-disciplined and willing to learn; I have observed that even when a team-mate is correcting her, she takes the advice and never talks back . . . the making of a great player.”
The 26-year-old Chavarika admits that she never had it easy with social media, but her Gems debut is one of her career highlights so far.
“When I stepped onto that court, I just wanted to raise the Zimbabwean flag high by playing my heart out. I did just that,” she said.
“Social media came hard on me but I had to shut all that out of my mind and stay focused because it was my first time on that stage and I needed to learn as much as I could.
“For it turned out well, next call I will be much more improved, so even back at my club, I am working extra hard to ensure I make the cut next time and also make the nation proud.”
Chavarika may never be exactly like Jani and perhaps she should not try to be; Zimbabwe does not need a duplicate but an evolution.
It is only a matter of time before the naysayers turn into believers.
With a little time, proper conditioning and more international exposure, if Chavarika remains level-headed, she could become unstoppable.
