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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
LOCAL rugby coach, Derek Chiwara has been chosen for the United States of America Olympic and Paralympics Committee coaching enrichment course at the University of Delaware.
Chiwara, who was the Zimbabwe national women’s sevens coach until ZRU advertised the post last month as part of a restructuring exercise has been awarded a full scholarship for the course which starts on 14 October this year and runs up until 5 October 2021. The Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and Zimbabwe Rugby Union provided supporting documentation to back Chiwara’s application.
With travel restrictions put in place by the coronavirus pandemic, Chiwara will do part of his learning online until the end of the year before he travels to USA in February 2021. The course is concluded in Switzerland for the final module.
Chiwara is excited by the opportunity which he feels will be advantageous to his personal growth and for the expansion of game in Zimbabwe.
“This course is extremely rich and life changing. I am super excited and on cloud nine. The coach in me gets to grow, the knowledge gained is beneficial to Zimbabwe too as I will definitely assist in growing the game of rugby nationally. The ultimate goal is to have Zimbabwe taking part consistently at the world stage and being a force to reckon. By the end of the course I should have the blue print for a high performance centre for rugby 7s,’’ Chiwara said.
He is keen to stay on as Lady Cheetahs as he indicated that his studies will not interfere with the team’s schedule, with indications being that he applied for the post, whose closing date for applications was 30 July.
“The course will not interfere with the fixture calendar. So will I be very much available to serve the country. We wait to see how the appointments go,’’ he said.
Chiwara was appointed Lady Cheetahs coach in September last year, taking over from the long serving Abigail Kawonza who stepped down. His first assignment was when the Lady Cheetahs took part at the Rugby Africa Women’s Sevens, held in Tunisia, a tournament where Zimbabwe finished number eight out of 12 teams.
@Mdawini_29
Online Reporter