The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
MUTARE-BASED Lady Sables and Cheetahs strength and conditioning coach, Brandon Chombo, together with his colleagues in the female rugby national teams will have to work overtime to ensure that the players attain match fitness ahead of Africa Cup contest next month.
In the absence of international preparatory matches that were lined up, but suddenly called off owing to lack of sponsorship, the preparations for the Lady Sables and Cheetahs have been made more complicated and arduous.
Extreme Fitness Gym has chipped in with support by availing their facilities for the teams.
Sables head coach, Lissy Wasarirevu said: “Our vision is to be one of the best teams in Africa. Yes, for now we might not have the facilities and the resources, but I know we will get there. The good thing is that we are making progress.
“We had to cancel the preparation games we had planned to play Boland, Zambia and Titan before the Africa Cup because of sponsorship.
“For now we just want to play provincials as part of our preparations. That is not what we really wanted given that we have had two years without playing. However, we just have to start there.”
Chombo said: “I was selected to work with the ladies’ teams from the Under-20s, Lady Cheetahs and the Sables to try and maintain continuity and to closely monitor the conditioning progress of the players.
“This is to try and cover the gap that is there in our local sporting culture where we do not invest in Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD).
“At a time when the girl child is being given equal opportunities to perform and compete, we hope that with all efforts being put by the technical teams of these ladies’ teams, we will continue to grow and compete at the same levels as other countries internationally.”
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) saw it fit to engage Chombo’s services since he is a qualified Strength and Conditioning coach, holding a Level Two certification as well as Level Two 15s and Level One 7s among other rugby coaching qualifications.
Coming into the Lady Sables and Cheetahs technical team, Chombo holds vast experience amassed from his playing days where he played in neighbouring South Africa and for a couple of local clubs.
The national team technical department is surely not short of experience as the Lady Sables head coach, Wasarirevu also comes in with a wealth of experience from her playing days where she also captained the Lady Sables and her experience as referee.
