Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
WITH many youngsters taking up sport for fun, 12-year-old Rumbidzai Michelle Makamache chose to take up a sport that will come in handy in sticky situations.
The young girl decided to join karate as a means to stand up against bullies at just eight years old.
Makamache was inspired by her father who was a taekwondo disciple.
Her father immediately agreed for her to take up the sport after it was introduced at Coghlan Primary School. The decision has proved fruitful for the soon-to-be Form One student who has won several medals.
“It all started at Coughlan Primary School when they introduced karate and we talked to the father and he agreed because I’m the grandmother and he said since she is a girl child, for self-defence she has to do karate,” said her grandmother who refused to be named.
Nicknamed “Whitestone” after her last name, Makamache the young karateka, who dreams of being the First Lady’s protector one day, agreed with the fact that karate teaches self-defence.
“They first introduced karate at Coghlan, then I had to go and join at Baines Junior because karate is about self-defence and it teaches respect,” she said.
Makamache has been doing well locally and in South Africa. With multiple medals under her belt, she however is prouder of the one she won in South Africa in May.
She finished third in her brown belt event at the Budo Karate International tournament. The proud young karateka now has a brown belt and dreams of opening her dojo for the girl child.
“I would like to open my dojo for the girl child because boys think girls cannot fight so I want to do away with that,” she said.
The 12-year-old is part of a club that is known as Karatenomichi and will be part of the karatekas that will be participating at the Kurai Open Championship in Harare starting today at Alexandra Sports Club.
With her family mostly funding her trips, they are hoping to have sponsors coming in to support her dreams.
“Especially when they go out to South Africa like next year, we will need sponsors for her to go to South Africa,” said
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