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Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
MENARD Mupera is a wonder, wandering around villages. He isn’t aware of the former fact but acknowledges the latter.He is under the care of his sister Ronica at Ndanga Hospital in Masvingo. Ronica is now the head of the family. A typical generational unsung heroine.
Both their parents, who were medical staffers at this hospital, father Alois and mother Loice are late, having passed on in 1998 and 1999 respectively.
The situation has been worsened by another death of a key member in the family, Martin the oldest sibling.
Ronica has just graduated with a certificate in nurse aide and management at the hospital is generous enough to let the family keep on staying within staff quarters.
Menard wants to be a teacher.
But there is only one problem.
He hasn’t done well at school.
No one can blame him.
He wouldn’t concentrate on his academics at a time both his parents plus brother Martin were critically ill.
He has to supplement to attain his dream job. Here and there, he plays football like other boys in the community.
And one afternoon at the turn of the century, Sammy Mavhenyengwa, a coach who is working with Black Rhinos Juniors shows up at the ground where Menard and his friends are playing. The veteran gaffer has visited his rural home and just like all football people would do, he has decided to watch the amateur teams.
One poor boy aged exactly 20 years old and playing barefoot catches Mavhenyengwa’s eye.
“I had visited my home area when I decided to watch the local boys playing football.
“That was not my first time to visit this ground.
“But in all my previous visits I hadn’t come across someone as good as Menard was that day,” said Mavhenyengwa.
“The match was also a close contest making it easy to see who was good.
“I inquired about him and I learnt that he was just another boy staying with his sister at Ndanga Hospital…”
Menard, at first, never took the interest that Mavhenyengwa had shown in him seriously.
“Back in the day, we were made to understand that rural boys would not make it big in football,” said Mupera.
“I was planning to pursue my academics and possibly make it to a teaching college.
“That was very fashionable back in Masvingo those days.
“My aunt (mother’s sister) was very much supportive of the idea and I looked well destined for the class”.
Mavhenyengwa returned to Harare and bought Menard some pair of football boots and training kit.
Everything changed.
After a while, Mavhenyengwa decided to take him to his house in Mbare so he could train with Black Rhinos Juniors.
“For some time, I stayed with him at my house in Mbare,” said Mavhenyengwa.
“He was so good that at times he would train with the seniors.
“He had a very strong mentality and his aggression was second to none.
“In no time, he made it into the senior team along with players who included Melody Wafawanaka, Nicholas Gora, Lazarus Muhoni and the late Gift Kamuriwo among others”.
Mupera would also be attested into the Zimbabwe National Army in 2002 and served in the organisation until 2012.
He made his name after playing a decisive role in Black Rhinos’ 1-0, 17-year jinx-breaking win over Dynamos in 2001.
The five-time Warriors capped midfielder swept all the individual accolades at the team that same year and would stay at the army team until 2009. It was only in 2010 when he moved to Highlanders that he managed to make it on the Soccer Stars calendar before he joined FC Platinum in 2011 where he was also phenomenal.
How Mine was his next port of call and in 2013, he was also selected on the Soccer Stars of the Year list. With age catching up on him, Mupera downgraded to the first division, inking a deal with Golden Valley in 2015.
He is still at Golden Valley, working.
He hardly completes a football sentence without the mention of Mavhenyengwa and deservedly so.
“God used Mavhenyengwa to help me achieve things that I never dared to dream of,” said Mupera.
“The reason I was considering going back to school was obvious.
“Although I played football throughout my childhood, we knew there were never enough opportunities for us to get noticed.
“So everyone would always think about realistic things. But I salute Mavhenyengwa who helped me out”.
Ronica is still at Ndanga Hospital.
And she believes so much talent is going down the drain due to limited opportunities in the area.
“I saw the hand of God when Menard was scouted by Mavhenyengwa,” said Ronica.
“After the death of our parents, life was never easy.
“But we had to survive anyway. Menard was planning to go back to school as he wanted to pursue teaching but funds were in short supply.
“He was severely disturbed during his Ordinary Level years as that was the same time our parents and one of my brothers were critically ill.
“Sometimes he wouldn’t go to school because he had to help out.
“He always played football but no-one took the game seriously because there were virtually no opportunities around.
“Actually my mother despised the game. But I was surprised when he was taken to Harare by Mavhenyengwa. That was the start of a new era for him and all of us”.
Mavhenyengwa is still a key figure in talent scouting in the country.
The list of players he has groomed is just too long.
He is the Cranborne Bullets chief scout and the hunger to identify more talent is still evident in this veteran who is also a ZIFA coach educator.
Online Reporter