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Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter
INTERNATIONAL martial arts Hall of Famer, Wilfred Mashaya, wears a wide smile as he recollects the awkward circumstances, which drove him into karate.
Never at any point, in his youthful days, did it cross his mind that one day he would become a professional fighter.
All he wanted was to acquire decent skills to defend himself and his family against bullies, and criminals, in Mufakose.
“To start with, I was never a fan of karate. I saw some of our age-mates, while I was growing up in Mufakose training the art, but I had no interest whatsoever,’’ said Mashaya.
“However, I suddenly saw myself surrounded by bullies.
“There were also a lot of criminal elements, in our neighbourhood, who would break into houses willy-nilly.
“We lived in fear, during the day bullies would always scare you and at night thieves would break into houses, and you know how it felt like.”
This prompted Mashaya to enrol for karate lessons, in the hope he would gain self-defence skills.
“I wanted to protect myself, and feel secure, while at home,’’ he said.
“My sixth sense was also telling me that I should become a policeman, just to fight crime, given the so many criminal incidents, around.”
But, Mashaya would quickly master the art, and his instructors ended up seconding him for tournaments, a move which he initially rejected.
“I started dominating in tournaments and I realised somehow I could make a living out of the game, if I took it seriously.
“I decided to work even harder.
“But, there were a lot of challenges that I met, from lack of proper karate gear to lack of transport fares, to travel for tournaments, outside Harare.
“After completing my Ordinary Levels in 2009, I decided to join the Zimbabwe Republic Police.’’
That decision changed Mashaya’s sporting life for good.
“Karate wasn’t so rewarding so I briefly decided to concentrate on police displays. I really enjoyed those displays.
“That is when I then decided to do kobudo (using weapons). I couldn’t afford proper chuckle sticks and I was using makeshift weapons at first.”
Mashaya has since won several international accolades and was in 2019 voted the Regional Sportsperson of the Year for his all-round performance on the international scene.
It earned him several Hall of Fame entries, including in London, Barcelona, Italy, among others.
While Covid-19 pandemic has effectively put a stop to most sporting activities in this country, Mashaya is actually thriving, thanks to technology.
With his academy, ZimNinja, Mashaya has been recruiting and training karatekas virtually, and with most of the international tournaments being held virtually, he has since added four medals to his collection, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ZimNinja Academy has also won over 30 medals, between September 2020 and May 2021.
“We have been using WhatsApp and Zoom to send training programmes to our fighters,’’ he said.
“We have also been taking part in virtual international tournaments and we have won several accolades, as an academy.
“Some of our fighters, who haven’t been able to fly for tournaments, over the years, have been able to participate in these virtual tournaments, and they have been winning.
“So, in as much as Covid-19 has stifled our operations in one way or the other, we have also been able to enter some fighters in international virtual tournaments who we would otherwise have failed to send overseas for tournaments.”
Online Reporter