tawandamusarurwa
Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
NICOLE and Mitchell Muzanenamo are perhaps too short for the netball positions they play.
However, what they lack in height, the two make up for with their splits, shots, technique and agility.
They both turn out for Green Fuel in the Zimbabwe Netball Association-run Premier Netball League and their combination play has captured the imagination of many.
They are key in steering the Chisumbanje-based team’s bid to become a powerhouse in local netball.
The Muzanenamo siblings were supposed to be at the recent Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, but Mitchell — the older of the two — had to pull out of the Gems squad due to illness. Her younger sister, Nicole, vowed to play for her.
The 21-year-old had a super World Cup show, mesmerising with the centre bib and unplayable in the wing attack position later in the tournament.
She even grabbed the player-of-the-match award in Zimbabwe’s victory over Sri Lanka during the 13-16th place play-offs and dedicated the gong to her sister.
The Gems could only finish 13th, but Nicole provided the silver lining in that campaign.
She is now being pursued by several clubs in South Africa.
But she is currently focused on her mission at Green Fuel, where she has rekindled her combination with her sister, Mitchell (23).
But the sisters have their parents — Connie and Godfrey — to thank for their success.
Connie is a local netball legend, who won several individual and team accolades as a player and coach, while Godfrey is a former Amazulu and Highlanders football player.
He even rubbed shoulders with the likes of Ronald “Gidiza” Sibanda at Amazulu and great players like Willard “Mashinkila” Khumalo and Mercedes “Rambo” Sibanda at Bosso.
The couple actually met in the late 1990s through sport.
“Sport is a beautiful thing, actually, and it’s not always about competition but a way of life,” said Connie, who now coaches Falcons Netball Club in South Africa.
“I met the father of my children while he was playing football and I was playing netball,” she said.
Connie was playing defence at the time until she got pregnant with Mitchell.
“I decided to swap positions to goal shooter. I continued playing the game until the late stages of gestation,” she said.
“I continued as a shooter soon after I recovered from the labour pains. That was in 2000.
“I gave birth to Nicole in 2002 and then started concentrating on netball again.”
Mitchell and Nicole were introduced to sport rather early in their lives, as their mother and father took them to netball and football games, respectively.
While Connie remained an active netball player, Godfrey went into football administration; he was chairperson of Division One side Turnall between 2004 and 2008.
“My wife was playing netball and I was into football administration,” said Godfrey.
“We made sure our daughters got all the support they needed.
“Their mother took them to netball matches and they developed keen interest in the game at a very young age.
“Here and there, we would also take them to football matches, and I guess that is how they started having keen interest in sport, generally,” he said.
Nicole said her sister Mitchell and parents made her fall in love with sport.
“If you look at our background, you will realise that we lived through sport.
“That is what buttered our family’s bread,” she said.
“When I was still young, I would go to watch my mother play netball.
“I developed an interest and together with my sister, Mitchell, she started teaching us the basics.
“That is how we mastered the game early.
“I would like to thank everyone who has been in this journey, helping us develop our netball skills,” she said.
With age still on their side, the Muzanenamo siblings are widely seen as the next greatest thing to happen in local netball.
Online Reporter