When hard work beats talent

23 Sep, 2018 - 00:09 0 Views
When hard work beats talent

The Sunday Mail

Veronica Gwaze
PATIENCE CHINHOYI admits she is not the most talented sports person but her belief in the mantra that hard work beats talent continues to take her places.

The 35-year-old has national caps in netball, basketball, rugby and athletics!

Cheerleaders attracted her to basketball, steeliness forced her into rugby while passion drove her to the netball court.

Growing up in Glen View, athletics was naturally her sport as a young girl and the discipline gave her the first national cap.

But how did she do it?

“For me, hard work supersedes any talent,” said Chinhoyi who stands at 1,88 meters.

“When I saw cheerleaders, my heart was drawn to basketball but being a tall girl, I opted to play rather than cheering others,” added PC, whose passion for basketball saw her using walls as her shooting board.

At 13, Chinhoi made the junior women’s national basketball team before breaking into the senior team two years later.

In 2006, she decided to try out the then male dominated sport of rugby and breezed her way into the national team.

“After watching a rugby match with friends, I felt it was a highly physical game which challenged me to try it as I was tough on court.

“To grasp the basics, I would go and watch teams training. Eventually I gate crushed trials and easily made the national team.”

She donned the rugby national team colors until 2010 before deciding to shift focus to netball.

Again, she made it onto the national team, marking her debut at the 2011 Africa games in Mozambique. But for all her flirtations with different sporting codes, Chinhoyi rates her national team netball days as the most memorable.

The Correctional Queens captain played as a goalkeeper and has fond memories of her days as a Gem.

“I remember in 2013 when we beat Zambia for the first time at the Diamond Cup in South Africa, we broke a long standing jinx and there was ecstasy in camp. It was as if we had won the tourney,” recalled Chinhoyi.

“Later that same year in Botswana, I played at maximum potential as I sought to make a point against a rival. I did not want to play second fiddle.

“I had vowed to give famous Ugandan goal shooter, Peace Proskovio, a torrid time. Although we lost by a score to the She Cranes as they qualified for the World Cup, I came home a happy defender who had lived her dream.”

While her glory days might have gone, Chinhoyi is some super sportswoman whose exploits will be difficult to emulate.

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