Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
BESIDES the satisfaction of sport providing that social interaction as well as trips to various places, playing netball, especially in Zimbabwe and most African countries, is really not financially rewarding compared to other sports like football, golf, cricket, rugby and swimming.
A number of footballers, for example, have amassed wealth from their talent, while socially some are demigods and are revered everywhere they go.
A footballer that sometimes doesn’t even make the starting line-up is more financially stable than an extremely talented netballer in Zimbabwe, which is unfortunate.
It was even worse for those that played netball years back, as they did so purely for the love of the game and got nothing in return compared to nowadays when most netball clubs are company sponsored and remuneration is by virtue of being employed by those companies.
Netballers are pushed to take the game seriously because of the high chances of employment it provides depending on one’s talent.
Playing netball in the 1980s and 1990s was just a hobby compared to now, and extremely talented netballers’ talent went to waste.
Former Hwange Netball Queens and Railstars Netball Queens centre Debra Rendo was one such yesteryear talent.
From the netball courts of St Ignatius Primary School in Hwange and Hwange High School as well as Lwendulu grounds and eventually Raylton in Bulawayo, Rendo is now a qualified Class 2 Maintenance Fitter and only woman at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) qualified as a jack repairer.
She is now doing her final year towards qualifying as a Class 1 Maintenance Fitter and fully accredited journeyman, as a result of her netball talent and an opportunity availed to her by NRZ.
“I started as a general hand, a messenger like most of the netball players at Railstars until an opportunity was availed to us by the company for those that wanted to upgrade themselves to start this course. Some thought it was too taxing since it needed a lot of reading and they (players) said it had been long since they left school. I saw a lifetime opportunity and just couldn’t let it slip away easily, so I grabbed it,” said Rendo, daughter of legendary Hwange and Zimbabwean footballer Amos.
Being born and bred in Hwange, it’s unusual for a girl to ‘turn her back’ on her hometown and seek new challenges elsewhere, especially in Bulawayo. So just how did she get to play for Railstars?
“I joined Railstars in 2006 after an invitation from my friends Melody Ncube and Sikhangele Ndebele. Before I was taken on board, I went through trials under coach Janota Phiri. After joining I stayed for about two months before I got employed by the parent company NRZ, like I said, as a messenger. After three months I then decided that I wanted to work in the workshop.
“I wanted to do a man’s job as an assistant at the machine shop. I stayed there for three years until our management offered us what I saw as a lifetime opportunity to upgrade ourselves. We were told to go to school at the NRZ Training Centre,” she said.
She started by doing Class 3 Maintenance Fitting, which she passed and upgraded to the next level, Class 2.
“It’s a three-phase course and I started at a certain stage and moved to the steam loco and now I am a jack repairer and the only woman in the NRZ doing that. I can’t say it’s a tough job to be a jack repairer, but it just needs someone with determination. When I was at the steam shed, I was working underground, servicing the water pump, including the turntable where trains turned, including conveyor belt repairs. The conveyor belt is for loading coal into the steam loco (train engine). I can say it’s a substitute for shovels,” said the mother of two.
She said she will forever be indebted to NRZ for the opportunity it availed, not only to her, but other netball players, more so because for an ordinary person to do the courses they were offered, certain qualifications are required, but for them, their qualification was just netball talent.
Rendo was so talented that in Form 1 at Hwange High School, she did not only make it into the school’s first team, but captained the side.
While in Form 2 in 1992, she joined Hwange Netball Club then coached by John Nkonde, and that marked the beginning of her journey into club netball.
In 1994 she was named Hwange High School Sportsperson of the Year.
After secondary school, she joined Railstars where she won four national championships and was also part of the Railstars team that toured Durban in 2010, representing Zimbabwe.
Despite her undoubted talent, Rendo never made it into the senior national netball team.
“I attribute that to two things; age and height. I played with very mature players and while perhaps I could have been good, my height was also not a great attribute, especially for national team requirements. Even though I didn’t represent my country, I remain a proud person for what I achieved in the game and obviously what the game rewarded me with. Had it not been for netball, who knows where I will be now, considering that I didn’t do that well at school. I therefore want to encourage talented, but academically ungifted young girls out there never to give up on netball or their dreams and for parents to support their children. Life is a wheel, an opportunity like what NRZ did for me might just come along for you,” she said.
Her first born child Brandon is into football and plays for Hwange, while daughter Sasha is following in her mum’s netball footsteps.
Online Reporter