adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
LACK of funding in sport espoused by the liquidity crunch affecting the economy is the greatest challenge that sport in general and basketball in particular is facing. These were the words of former national team player, Hilda Sithole nee Midzi, who started her career at Chancellor Primary School when she was in Grade Three. Basketball as a sport has many followers especially among the youth, but the game has hardly developed over the years and even struggled to hold tournaments as players and clubs get nothing out of their strenuous efforts on the court.
And Midzi reckons that lack of sponsorship has not allowed talented players to take the sport seriously.
“I think we are not having enough sponsorship in sport and in basketball in particular. This lack of sponsorship has led many talented players to either stop participating or just participating for leisure and not professionally. The obvious reason is that they (players) can hardly make a living out of it.
“Only if we had enough sponsorship or at least if companies were involved in sport just like what used to happen in the past when some corporates like B and C Bus Company and others used to partner sport, we could see talented players taking sport seriously.
“Today, we do not have the best of talent on the courts simply because those that are talented try to find other things that they can do to make ends meet in life,” she said.
Hilda, who could fit in any position on the court during her playing days, narrated how she started playing the game of basketball.
“I started off in primary school at Chancellor Primary School here in Mutare. I was in Grade Three when I fell in love with the game of basketball. I played the game up until I went to high school at Mutare Girls’ High School.
“I then started playing club basketball when I was in Form Three at Mutare Girls’ High School. I was turning out for B and C, a team that was based here in Mutare. I also played for Utah. It was also in high school when I started being called for national team assignments,” she said.
Interestingly, Hilda is happily married to Mutare-based Mercenaries and former basketball national team player, Innocent Sithole.
Online Reporter