Sundaymail Editor
Sports Reporter
GLOW Petroleum Queens head coach Perpetua Siyachitema usually chooses to remain modest and let the results do the talking.
She is currently the only female head coach in local netball, and won the 2021 and 2022 Rainbow Amateur Netball League (RANL) Coach of the Year titles after guiding her club to glory in the respective years.
Glow Petroleum Queens have since opened their 2023 RANL title defence with two straight victories over rivals Mambas Queens (49-43) and Hi Fliers (104-3) last weekend.
“When we heard that we were facing Mambas in our opening game, we knew what it meant and got down to serious business,” she said.
“Our clashes have always been tense, and on the day, I had to recycle the team immediately.
“I am happy we walked away with our pride intact.” As a player, she was arguably one of the best local wing attackers of all time.
In 2019, she led the Gems to their debut World Cup appearance in Liverpool, where the minnows finished eighth.
She later called time on her career and tried her hand at coaching.
During the short period she has been coach, she has churned out scores of players, some of whom are in the junior and senior national teams. Ursula and Nobukhosi Ndlovu, Beaulah Hlungwani, Tanaka Makusha and Paidamoyo Tinoza are some of the players coached by Siyachitema who are in the Gems squad.
They hope to make it to the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa.
Furthermore, some of the players under the gaffer’s tutelage are Lesbane Karaso and Precious Shumba, who both won Player of the Year accolades.
“I feel great when I look back at my contributions to the game. This is what I have always dreamt of,” she said.
“As a player, I was fortunate enough to be among some of the country’s best players. I learnt a lot from some of the best coaches this country has to offer.
“We had a rare fighting spirit. Sponsorship was a huge challenge back then, but everything was about passion for us and I am happy it took me this far.
“For years, we could not make it to the World Cup. I remember this particular day, back in 2018, when we sat down as a team and asked ourselves some hard questions.
“It was a candid conversation, after which we agreed that 2019 was supposed to be our year. “We had dreamt of it for years.”
Siyachitema still draws some satisfaction from the manner in which her career unfolded.
Her first Gems call-up was in 2009, after which she was made captain within two years.
In 2012, she attended coaching classes in preparation for life after the court.
She would travel to Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, where she got to be part of classes that were conducted by the global netball gurus — Australian instructors.
In 2016, she was appointed assistant coach for the Under-21 national team.
Her team qualified for the 2017 Junior World Cup in South Africa, where they finished ninth. She was later appointed the national Under-20 assistant coach and deputised Ropafadzo Mutsauki. The duo would go on to win bronze at the Region Five Games.
In 2017, she became Glow Petroleum Queens’ head coach.
“The most challenging moment of my career was when I became a player-coach at Glow; it was tough to play both roles at the same time.
“Trying to perfect your own play on the court and having to watch and coach your ‘mates’ is a huge task.
“It was demanding, but it helped me grow professionally,” she said.
This season, she bolstered her squad, bringing in Tanaka Makusha and Hamu Govere.
“The international exposure I got during my time with the national team took me this far.
“However, it is not about Perpetua only — we are a team and everyone has a role to play.
“Winning our first two games has boosted our confidence.
“It means we have developed the right systematic movements, whereby we know what to do in certain situations.
“It is still early to tell what will happen as the season goes, but our dream is to retain the title,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe senior netball team have been thrown into the deep end of this year’s Netball World Cup in South Africa, which is slated for July 28 to August 6.
The Gems have been placed in Pool A, alongside Australia, Fiji and Tonga.
Zimbabwe open their World Cup with a tie against the Aussies.
They will later on play Fiji and then Tonga, in that order.
England, Malawi, Scotland and Barbados are drawn in Pool B, while Jamaica, South Africa, Wales and Sri Lanka make up Pool C.
World Cup favourites New Zealand, Uganda, Trinidad & Tobago and Singapore will battle it out in Pool D.
The group games will be played in a round-robin format, with each team expected to play three matches.
The top three teams from each pool will then proceed to round two, while the bottom teams from the four groups move on to play for positions 13, 14, 15 and 16.
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