adminEddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
HE has won a domestic football championship medal and has been to the Africa Cup of Nations and other tournaments such as CHAN and COSAFA with the Warriors.
His life revolves around football and his peers have even nicknamed him Masinga, after the South Africa legend Philemon Masinga.
Yet he never played the game at a high level.
Meet the jovial football fitness trainer Majaha Ndlovu, who calls himself the gift from Tshabalala.
Many would rather remember this bald-headed bloke for his well-choreographed dances, which he usually uses whether in celebrating goals from the bench or in helping to whip up morale among the players during warm-up.
But in essence, Ndlovu is not a dancer but a fitness enthusiast.
He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke and is against the idea of footballers living a carefree life.
“My life is training, I am 47 now, but I can train with the same intensity with 19-year-olds.
“The secret is I train. I wake up in the morning jog, eat, go to the gym, that’s me.
“I took up fitness training from guys like Roger Russell from Zimbabwe Saints way back, I think in 1993 or 1994 and then there was a guy called Khumalo, who used to train that Highlanders team that had the likes of Rambo (Mercedes Sibanda).
“I was still a young boy then but I used to follow them, so I took it from those madhalas.
“I admired what they used to do and from there I never stopped dreaming,” he says.
Ndlovu worked with the Warriors on their fitness during the qualifiers for the recent Africa Cup of Nations and was part of the delegation at the finals in Gabon.
He has worked with South Africa sides Orlando Pirates, Mpumalanga Black Aces (now Cape Town City) and Jomo Cosmos before returning home for stints with Chicken Inn, Highlanders, CAPS United, the Zimbabwe Under-23 national team and the Warriors.
His work helped CAPS United end 11 years of waiting for the league title.
“There is no way that you can play without being fit.
“It goes together, it’s like wearing a shoe without shoelaces.
“You cannot walk properly without shoelaces.
“So, that’s how it is, if you want to enjoy your football and be successful, you have to train very hard.
“That’s where I come in as a physical trainer.
“Fitness comes first. I have to make sure the players have the right warm up before the coaches start working with them.
“Fitness definitely contributed to our good run last year.
“If you look the way we played in the regions of 70– 80 minutes until the end of the game, we were dangerous. That’s when we secured most of our points because we lasted longer that the opponents.
“We managed to match teams like Chapungu; those guys are very fit. They train very hard. Not saying they are bad team in terms of talent but fitness is one of their strengths. They can run the whole 90 minutes without slowing down but we were there matching them,” says Ndlovu.
He has also been credited for bringing back players like Leonard Tsipa and Joel Ngodzo, who had been condemned as spent forces because of their terrible loss of shape.
“I am a father from Bulawayo. I am happy to represent Bulawayo, I am happy to represent Tshabalala, especially the schools that I went to, Ihlati for secondary and Mahlabezulu Primary School in Bulawayo.
“I consider myself a gift from Tshabalala.”
Online Reporter