The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
CHEETAHS Academy skipper, Kudzai Mashawi, will be banking on lessons learnt from his predecessors when he takes to the field at the Kenya Safari Sevens tournament on Saturday.
A young Turk himself, Mashawi has been tasked with leading a relatively young and inexperienced side at the annual competition slated for October 30 and 31.
At the tourney, a tough assignment awaits his team as heavyweights such as Germany, Uganda and South Africa are also participating.
In total, 12 teams have confirmed their participation, with Zimbabwe placed in Pool A, alongside Germany, Kenya’s main side – Shujaa, and the Stallion Sevens of Nigeria.
Samurai International, SA All Stars 7s Academy, Red Wailers and Chipu 7s make up Pool B, while Spain, Morans, Uganda and KCB round up the men’s competition.
However, for Mashawi, the job is simple enough: to lead the youngsters to victory.
“First of all, it is a great honour to be able to lead the boys into battle,” said Mashawi.
“Looking at how I got into the set-up, I had a very good support system around me, and this will be my main goal going into this tournament.
“I want to offer some of the new and younger guys the same support that those that came before gave me.
“We are a young academy side, and the job will be to help instill some self-belief into the guys.
“The coaching staff has already shown confidence in the guys we have by selecting them, and it’s now up to them to express themselves,” he said.
Despite the presence of some big names like Spain, Germany, the South Africa all-star team and even hosts Kenya, Mashawi has refused to simply make up the numbers.
The Cheetahs Academy skipper wants to win it all, if possible.
“We are not going there to just learn, and simply make up the numbers, we want to compete and win,” said the skipper.
“The presence of some of these big names has given us confidence.
“We want to play these teams and test ourselves.
“This is not just a learning curve for us, we are going there to win,” he said.
