The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
WHEN philosopher John Maxwell coined the adage ‘A great leader’s courage to fulfil her vision comes from passion not position,’ he may very well have been summing up the life of Nomvelo Mlotshwa.
She recently attained her Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) international refereeing badge.
Her latest achievement made he reminisce about how the journey began in Bulawayo.
Realising that she never made it into the first six on the college team, she still would not let her volleyball passion die.
Instead, Mlotshwa, who is now one of the few internationally recognised female match officials, abandoned the net for match officiating.
As fate would have it, one day a friend invited her to the Bulawayo Volleyball Association games, where she was later asked to assist with the scoreboard.
Because the volleyball scoresheet is somewhat a bit complex, she had to be mentored for some minutes.
“In school, I played basketball and volleyball, although the latter was my first love.
“My love for volleyball then grew more after I enrolled at Hillside College. It became a big part of my life, but it was usually tough for me to be in the top six, so I thought officiating would be a great option,” she recounted.
Since then, she would volunteer to record scores at most games, a decision she believes marked the beginning of her new journey.
In August 2008, she was invited to officiate at the National Youth Games in Gweru, where she was to meet some of the sport’s big names.
“It is there that I also met Mr Madzivire, who was very supportive of women coming on board in officiating, and he motivated me, gave me a platform to grow and in a short time I would be invited to officiate at national level games.”
Madzivire also motivated her to enrol for refresher courses to develop and be eligible for international courses.
In 2015, Mlotshwa took her first international candidature course before travelling to Tunisia in 2017 for her practicals at FIVB-sanctioned games.
Together with her colleague, Bekezela Ndlovu, they were part of the first Zimbabwean women to be invited to officiate at such a level.
It is also during those years that she graduated with her first degree in sport (Physical Education) and a master’s degree in sports management.
With officiating being largely male-dominated at that time, Mlotshwa’s journey had many challenges.
“There were only two female international referees in the country against seven men, and it was tough. There was a lot of discrimination; people felt we were unable to do what our male counterparts could,” she said.
