Thabo Moyo: The mainstay of Byo athletes
BEHIND every successful man or woman is an unsung hero.
When a great talent like Peter Ndlovu or Benjani Mwaruwari walks the streets of London, all the credit seems to go to the men who helped them pen their first contracts. It’s always forgotten that they were already ripe and ready to use as sportspersons while Tshuks and Ali “Baba” Dube are left to look like coaches claiming glory they do not deserve.
There are thousands of such men and women who have been at the very foundation of the athletes’ grooming.
Unassuming Bulawayo-born and bred educationist Thabo Moyo falls into this category. He has worked with some established stars some of whom are playing professional sport but like Dube the renowned Bosso juniors coach, he has stayed an unsung hero even praises for some boys he diverted from an errand to football have been directed elsewhere.
Yet these are the men with a great eye for talent, have patience as a virtue to tolerate a budding star as he tries to master technique.
Technique comes from habit entailing many hours of perseverance and practice.
Moyo has coached athletics, cricket and rugby at Christian Brothers College.
He was able to work with a young Kyle Bowie who moved to play professional cricket in Tasmania, Australia, Mike Williams a lock in the books of English and European rugby giants, Leicester Tigers, Royal Mwale (Gifford) a rugby player he moved from eighth to hooker and is now established in Spain and Simba Kusano who had a stint with Tuskers.
The soft-spoken Moyo, who now is a rugby performance analyst, also worked with Tafadzwa Mtariswa a sprinter whose personal best in the 200m in 2013 was 20,86 seconds, other rugby players he got a chance to work with are Biselele Tshamala, Sanele Sibanda, Lawrence Cleminson and Enrique Ndlovu who were called up at Zimbabwe Under-19 or capped at senior level.
Highlanders FC striker Nhlanhla Ndlovu was one of his players when Moyo taught at Fatima High School in 2008.
Moyo said it was vital for development coaches to have a link with what happens at professional level. He said elite and development structures needed to dovetail into each other. “The material is there,” said the junior development level coach. At that level Moyo says they are driven by passion and the hunger to learn.
“And also the desire to be a solution to problems everybody sees and complains about,” said Moyo.
Loui Corbi, Piet Staak and Bongani Mafu are the three guys that made him look where he was as an individual and each of them in their own way inspired him to coach.