The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
Mantas Academy, the high performance centre which polished the talents of such players as Genius Chidzikwe and Mbonisi Ndimande, is battling for life.
Mantas Academy is finding the going tough. – Pictures by Kudakwashe Hunda.
And the woman at the helm, Anne Martin, fears the worst is yet to come.
“The economic situation has not been kind to us. We live from one day to the next,” said Martin, a Tennis Zimbabwe honorary life vice-president.
Situated about 30km from Mutare’s central business district, the academy was founded in 1986 when International Tennis Federation representative Roger Dacewell came to open centres of excellence in Zimbabwe.
Three centers were opened in Harare, Midlands and Manicaland provinces, with the under-privileged being their main target.
Of the three, only the Manicaland centre thrived, later adopting the moniker Mantas Academy.
At the height of the academy’s success, it boasted of state-of-the-art equipment, well-trained staff and was home to some of the best players in the land.
The academy’s success stories range from putting the lowly tennis province of Manicaland on the map, facilitating scholarships for the academy’s most promising students and nurturing some of the country’s top players.
Among the players that came through Mantas are Chidzikwe and Ndimande, who both went on to represent Zimbabwe at the Davis Cup.
Freeman Nyamunokora, one of the top coaches in the country and the fourth black non-playing Davis Cup captain, is also a product and former trainer at the academy.
At junior level, the academy produced the likes of Alwyn Mushonga, Pauline Chawafambira, Ronzai Saurombe and Malcolm Mutungamiri, who have all represented the nation at junior level.
Sadly the Mantas of today is different from the Mantas of yesterday.
Of the nine specialist coaches they started with, the academy now has four volunteers. The number of schools engaged for talent identification and nurturing has gone down from 10 to four.
Only the academy’s infrastructure, specifically the five-bedroom boarding house and tennis courts situated at Mutare Girls High, are worth mentioning.
At the age of 76, Martin’s involvement with the academy has been severely restricted and her role as honorary vice-president of Tennis Zimbabwe does not yield as much influence and power as it used to.
“All we need is for the corporate world to come and chip in any way they can. We are not asking for millions of dollars in terms of sponsorship, but it is the small things that we need.
“We don’t even have a vehicle to ferry our students to school. We have had to trim our coaching staff because we can no longer afford to pay them decent salaries. At times we don’t have decent shoes, tennis racquets and balls for the children to practice with.
“It is the small things like that, which we urgently need.
“There are still a lot of talented unprivileged children for us to help and all we need is to survive this tough period.
“One day soon, Mantas Academy will return to its former glory and I know this because I never give up,” she declared.
Martin’s sentiments were echoed by the academy’s administrator, Vincent Nyatoti.
“Mantas Academy still has a lot to offer and I know this because I am living testimony of Ms Martin shear will. Yes things are hard, but we will survive. Right now we are scrounging for the little we can.
“We are charging about US$3 a lesson for every child we take for tennis lessons every term. Yes it’s little but it keeps us on solid ground as we are still providing lessons to those who ordinarily cannot afford them and the money gets ploughed into day to day operations.
“We have a few former players abroad who chip in with second-hand tennis racquets, tennis balls and their free time. It is only through these former student’s goodwill that we are still standing,” he said.
The staff complement now mostly consists of long-serving employees or former students who have chosen loyalty to Martin over jumping ship.
One such example is Nyatoti, while another is academy cook Emma Chowa, who has been with Mantas through the good and the bad.
“I have been here since 2005 and cannot see myself leaving Ms Martin during her time of need. She has always been good to me and I simply love the kids, both past and present,” she said.
