The Sunday Mail
Brighton Zhawi
HER ultimate dream is to be a doctor but before enrolling for Medicine, Tinayeishe Elijah wants to leave a mark on the world hockey scene.
The 18-year-old forward, whose goals powered Zimbabwe to their second Hockey Junior World Cup appearance, is looking forward to taking to the field in Chile later this year for the global showpiece.
“I am very excited, I feel blessed and honored to be playing for my country and more importantly for God,” she said.
“I am motivated to work very hard on and off the hockey field. I hope to give the other teams a run for their money and lift Zimbabwe’s flag high.”
At high school, all-rounder Elijah excelled in basketball, swimming, tennis and athletics. However, hockey took the bigger chunk of her heart and now she is heading for the World Cup.
“I have always loved hockey and always hoped to achieve big, it is a dream that has come true to play against the best in the world. I fell in love with the sport in junior school (at Twin Rivers in Harare) at the age of nine.
“I enrolled for high school at Arundel, where my approach to sports in general began to become more serious,” she recalled.
As much as she loves hockey and has abundant talent, the idea of playing the sport professionally does not appeal to Elijah.
She sees herself earning a living with a stethoscope rather than a hockey stick.
“It was a dream of mine to play professionally in some top leagues once upon a time but not so much now.
You know as you grow you begin to look at issues in a more mature way and for me being a professional hockey player is not my thing.
“I want to be a doctor. It looks like I will end up going to the University of Malawi and there is not much hockey there, so I need to make the most of the chance I will get when we play at the World Cup in Chile,” said Elijah.
