The Sunday Mail
Veronica Gwaze and Brighton Zhawi
TWO childhood friends have been entrusted in taking Zimbabwe netball forward. Lloyd Makunde, the Gems head coach, will be assisted by his old friend Christopher Simeone. The 46-year-olds are close buddies whose first mission is retaining Zimbabwe’s Pent series title at the tournament slated for June 8-13 in Windhoek, Namibia.
The Gems are expected to leave for Windhoek on Tuesday.
“We have always been friends since Grade One in Mabvuku,” said Makunde during last week’s national team training session in Mbare.
“We proceeded together to Mabvuku 2 High School, playing for the same basketball team and since then we never separated,” he said.
Makunde, who replaced long-serving Gems coach Ledwine Dondo, is in his second year as the head coach.
“I was happy because we have worked together for more than 15 years . . . coaching juniors in Mabvuku back in the days,” said Makunde.
Simeone, who transformed Super League side Correctional Queens, formerly Nehanda, into a formidable team, is determined to complement his friend well.
“I believe we will work hard in getting the best out of our national team, it is a privilege to be in the set up and I am grateful for this opportunity,” Simeone said.
Speaking on their immediate task, Makunde said they have adopted a new play which will be at work in Namibia.
“Our aim is to bring the cup back and we are happy the team is shaping up very well. We are trying a new type of play . Internationally, netball is very dynamic but of late in Africa we has been stagnant. There has not been much mobility so this time we are going to surprise our opponents with our new one touch game, which is a fast game,” he said.
Conducting national team training sessions at Stodart brought back some old memories to Simeone.
“We used to come in here at Stodart during the days of the Crystal Candy tournaments in the early 90s.”
