adminThey are Mbare Academy and there is no better way to describe how they played in the schools division of the Spar Zimbabwe International Sevens rugby tournament last week other than spectacular.
So impressive were the boys that they were a marvel to watch as they made light work of the so-called traditional schools rugby giants who have been playing the game for a number of decades as they beat Churchill in the Cup semi-final before dismissing Prince Edward 12-7 to lift the title.
Prince Edward are one of the oldest schools in the capital and they have been playing the game for over a century, Churchill have been playing rugby for over half a decade now while St Johns’ College are one of the strongest rugby playing schools.
But it was a five-year-old high-density suburb academy that got the better of the giants.
Tinashe Chibondo dominated with five tries while Shingi Katsvere scored a total of four — three of them coming against Churchill.
Amazing for a side that is dominated by 15-and-16-year-olds playing against 17-and-18-year-olds in the same competition.
Not wanting to be left out of successful projects, some have even tried to hijack the project wanting to link it with the tag-rugby that was just recently introduced, but the academy has been around for a longer period.
Coach and founder, Victor Pekani, has been at the helm of the academy since 2007 and through his academy has produced the likes of Sables and Cheetahs trio of Manasah Sita, Njabulo Ndlovu and Stephan “Stavo” Hunduza.
In the local rugby league at the moment, the likes of Kudzai Mashawi, Sam Makuku and Itai Vambe have been doing well — a revelation that there is more to Mbare than the notoriety synonymous with the suburb.
Some of the players in the academy have started breaking into the junior national sides as well and Munashe Kamunda, Brighton Chinyanga, Chibondo and Kudzi Munangi were all part of the Zimbabwe Under-16 side that travelled to South Africa last year.
Munangi has since received a scholarship and is now based at Pieter Maritzburg High School in South Africa.
At last year’s edition of the Cottco schools festival, Mbare Academy also stole the lime-light in the Under-16 category, beating Falcon College 36-3, edging St Georges College
12-10 before narrowly losing 5-8 to Prince Edward.
“I started the academy in 2007 and Milton Rankeni has been helping me in all this.
“To establish the project we went to several schools in Mbare because not any of the schools played rugby then so we started with primary schools that included Gwinyai, St
Peters, St Michaels, Shingirai, Nharira, Chiedza and Ardbenie.
“Before this I worked with high schools in Mbare and that was when we produced the likes of Manasah Sita, Njabulo Ndlovu but then we realised that for us to have better quality of players we actually need to go down to the primary school kids.
“I realised that it was tough to start teaching a 17-year-old rugby basics and it would also show during the Cottco festival that we were indeed weak as we lost by huge margins so starting from the foundations was the way forward,” said Pekani.
But it was at the Spar Sevens, exactly a week ago, where they showed their true colours and Pekani was impressed with the way his side played.
He says the most important thing he has taught his players is to have discipline and believe in themselves.
“Coming from Mbare we do not have as many facilities as all these other schools, we do not have a field of our own but what I have told the boys is that they are humans just like their opposition, it’s just a matter of self-belief and discipline.
“We just comfort the players and tell them that we have to do with what we have and I am happy that they stood up at the big stage to show that this game is not about where we come from, but it’s about what we can do.
“We also wish our players could get a chance to train with the Cheetahs and Sables in Mbare where they come and spend some time with the players, encourage them and give them one-on-one lessons, that would motivate them a lot,” said Pekani.
Pekani’s assistant Rankeni added that they were so grateful to former Zimbabwe Rugby Union president Sithembilenkosini “Themba” Sibanda who took it upon himself to give scholarships to players from the academy for high school education.
“He (Sibanda) came in with huge support in the form of scholarships and he paid for 12 players from our academy to go to Churchill and he still pays for the players’ fees, especially those that are in high school.
“It was at the Highlands Junior School (in 2009) that we met him and he came up with such an offer.
“Mostly we fund the players from our own pockets in terms of transport and parents do the same because we do not have a home ground, all of our games are away and so each week we have to look for transport,” added Rankeni.
Among the schools Mbare Academy play during the season are Borrowdale, Hartman House, Tynwald, Highlands, Hellenic, Bindura, Maranatha and Dudley Hall.
All these games are played away.
“At times the schools we will be playing actually send their own school bus to come and fetch us in Mbare, then drop us off again after the games but we feel it would have been great for us if we managed to get a sponsor who caters for other things as well because truly, Themba is doing his beat.
“We literary do not have anything in terms of our own facilities because the ground we used to have in Mbare was vandalised and left neglected for a long time, there are no changing rooms so we use Harare Sports Club as our training venue on Sundays only.
“It is our wish to get someone who can help us redo the ground so that the parents, families and community that these boys are coming from gets to see what their children are doing and we also hope to get a club house for the players.
“There have been changes, though, especially on the side of the players because the coming on board of Themba saw them learn at better schools like Churchill and they got better exposure playing the likes of St Johns’ College, St George’s College, Falcon, Peterhouse and Prince Edward because these are more competitive schools,” said Pekani.
Despite the challenges the Mbare Academy is facing, they managed to dominate the local schools.
Imagine if they were fortunate enough to have facilities as good as any other top school?
And to celebrate their achievement of coming out as the best in the tournament, former Cheetahs forward Allan Mdehwa has seen it fit to hold an outing for the players.
This will happen at Lake Chivero this afternoon.
Online Reporter