The Sunday Mail
Arthur Choga
PICTURE the scene. A talent scout, Costar Takawira, finds a brilliant young middle-distance runner in rural Karoi. The girl (15) is a phenomenon, blazing through record books with minimal training and no dietary, gym or equipment support.
Takawira is thrilled. The girl’s running style is natural and effortless. Her pace is astonishing. She clears the ground like a vision.
After the races, Takawira starts a conversation with the girl’s school. He meets the girl and her parents, and soon wheels are in motion to secure her a scholarship at the school. However, a United States college sees videos of the girl and is immediately interested in bringing her over if she has qualifying grades. She does, and an offer of a full scholarship is made.
Armed with these exciting details, Takawira visits the girl’s parents.
He tells his story and gives them the news that she is now in line for an opportunity to use her sporting prowess to attain an education and possibly change her future.
The parents are not as delighted as the scout had hoped. “I had earlier met and briefed them about the possibility of a local scholarship to take her through secondary school.
“They would have none of it. I tried to explain that this opportunity could open doors for her,” says Takawira.
The girls’ father told Takawira that they could not place their daughter’s future in her ability to run.
“He said, ‘What if she gets injured, or if she is not fast enough? What then?’
“I tried to explain that she had been offered an accounts degree programme, which she would take on as part of the scholarship. Once her college days were over, she would be free to chase her professional dreams, or continue with her athletics career if it shaped up in that direction. Still, the parents would not have it,” adds Takawira. To this day, the girl is still in Karoi. It is still difficult to convince people that sport is a career path in Zimbabwe. Numerous tales of sporting heroes whose lives crashed after their playing days are still used today as examples of why a child should not take up sport.
Takawira is a living example of the power of sport to change a life.
He was a fast runner at Murewa’s Chemhondoro Primary School and never dreamed of much beyond beating his age mates and being the fastest boy in his area.
One day in 1984, after moving from Chemhondoro to Warren Park 4 Primary School, he was spotted at an athletics competition at Number 7 Grounds by Allan Wilson School teacher Gift Chigwere. The teacher immediately approached him and made him an offer, which he took to his family. A full scholarship to Allan Wilson followed and the young man’s journey in life took a different turn.
Soon, he was competing on the manicured turf of elite schools and was earning national schoolboy colours.
He would go on to get a scholarship to study engineering, while he chased his track dreams and his life changed forever.
Today, he is a successful mining engineer with a regional presence
“I ran for clubs from the mines back in the day and I built networks that have now become business associates. It all came from the track,” he says.
His desire to see lives changed through sport led him to seek contacts with colleges abroad, which would offer talented young people an opportunity to pursue sports while earning a qualification.
College sports in America are a huge drawcard, and they are run along corporate lines. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which administers college sports, has its own TV rights deals for its American football, basketball, athletics and football tournaments. The games are played before sold-out crowds and in purpose-built stadiums within the colleges.
Locally, the college games remain a low-key affair, but they are a major branding and commercial gold mine waiting to be developed.
In a country where new TV stations and numerous online publishing platforms are yearning for content, college sport is a divinely sent opportunity waiting to be grabbed.
To date, Takawira has facilitated 12 scholarships outside the country. Two of the students completed their studies and are based in South Africa, while 10 are in the United States and are doing well. A number of them are being contacted by the local athletics federation for possible national representation.
Four more are due to travel to the US in August. Locally, he has five athletes on scholarships, while 16 are also joining the programme. Each year, he gets 10 slots in various colleges to send talented young Zimbabweans.
“I know, first hand, what athletics can do. I had some great mentors like Robert Mutsauki, who helped me to see beyond the track at the All Stars Academy. With such visionaries, I was able to focus on becoming the best I could be in all that I set out to do,” he adds.
Takawira’s goal now is to develop the same hunger and vision in young athletes who may be breaking records, but wondering what they will ever achieve with their talent.
“It is so sad to hear of young girls with great potential now getting married at a young age and giving up on that great potential. There are young boys with amazing talent now sitting at home, possibly falling into drug abuse and yet they could have had a shot at something different.
“My story says there is a way through this life. I would like to be the one to inspire someone and help them change their life,” he further reveals.
Takawira says athletics can bring food to the table. “It can open doors to great things. We all need to come on board and identify, nurture and support the talent we have, so it is not lost.”
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