adminVeronica Gwaze
TO term her call-up into the Zimbabwe Gems World Cup training squad as ‘a dream come true’ sounds rather like a cliché and outdated.
But the expression accurately describes Platinum Queens’ Goal Attacker Progress Moyo’s current mindset.
For one, the call-up, apart from being well-deserved, came as a surprise to the 25-year-old.
“It is a great honour and truly a once in a lifetime opportunity, to receive a national team call up,” said the newly minted Gem.
“Despite working hard, it came as a huge surprise to me. I still do not know how I got the call, as l wasn’t expecting it, but I aim to grab the opportunity with both hands and make the best of it,” chuckled the Goal Attacker.
Like most athletes, Moyo has a list of idols she has always hoped to meet and play against, and now she is set to get her chance to do so provided she makes it to the final team for the 2019 Netball World Cup, slated for July 12-21 in Liverpool, England.
On the local front, she will get her chance to play alongside the likes of Pauline Jani and Felistas Kwangwa, but it is the chance to meet her idol Maria Folau that she is most pumped up about. The New Zealand international, Folau, has had such a profound influence on her career such that Moyo has even modelled her game around her.
Both are prolific goalscorers, with Folau’s credentials well documented and Moyo the reigning Zimbabwe Netball Player of the Year.
“When I began playing netball, I would watch videos of Maria playing and in my heart I would say — one day it will be my turn. Now not only is it my turn now, but I might actually get to meet her,” said Moyo.
“My mission now is to simply work hard and be as attentive as possible for I have a lot to learn from the likes of Pauline Jani and Felistas Kwangwa who I also admired growing up.
“This might actually be the beginning of a new chapter in my netball career,” she said.
The 25- year- old Gem is expected to make her official debut when Zimbabwe take on Uganda in an international friendly later this year.
Online Reporter