Mapfumo eyes Volleyball champs
FOR University of Zimbabwe Wolves’ new acquisition, Tafadzwa Michael Mapfumo, fortune is when luck meets preparation.
It’s like getting dealt a good hand, or simply by being in the right place at the right time, and having gumption to grab it by the horns.
Big Mike, as he is affectionately known within volleyball circles, is full of little nuggets like this.
The 22-year-old lanky power hitter recently left Harare City, a club that had been his home since 2017, and is now on the books for UZ Wolves.
With the move comes the chance to grace the African Club Championships, something that he has been itching to do for some time now.
And, if his 2019 Zone Six performance is anything to go by, then UZ have settled for a precious stone.
For his part, Mapfumo reckons joining UZ, ahead of the African Club Championships, presents the chance to live his dream.
“I just want to be there,where big names converge and the stars and teams I have always watched on YouTube.
“This is the time for me to be there with them, in the same arena and learning,” said Mapfumo.
“This is life changing.
“I might not get the chance to play against them all, but I will learn just from watching, and hopefully chatting,” he said.
As the games beckon, memories of his Volleyball formative years at ZRP High School have flooded his every thought.
Prior to his dalliance with volleyball, he fancied himself quite the basketball player.
It was during his time in the sport that he participated at a provincial tournament at Ellis Robins back in 2015.
It is also during the tourney that he caught the eye of the Prince Edward coach and earned himself an Advanced Level scholarship.
Despite joining the school on the grant, Mapfumo was still torn between Volley and Basketball.
“I was asked to make a choice, so because I had gotten the scholarship through volleyball I chose the code,” he said.
Before leaving P.E in 2017, he participated at the national youth games in Hwange.
And this is where Harare City Head Coach Willex Chisvo, again, spotted the young man and put him on their books.
“When I joined the club, it was a very youthful team.
“I remember, one particular day, we looked at our average age as a club and it was 21-years,” he said.
Throughout his time at Harare City, his eyes were on the African Club Championships.
In 2017, he made his debut at the Zone Six Games, but City were knocked out in the group stages.
The following year they were booted out in the quarter finals, before settling for silver in 2019.
In that edition, Mapfumo was the top goal scorer with 27 points (2 service aces, 1 block, 24 spikes) ahead of UZ Wolves’ Tafadzwa Keni who had 23 points (3 service aces, 3 blocks, 17 spikes).
Mapfumo is also set to enrol at the University of Zimbabwe and will study towards a degree in Civil Engineering.
He said that furthering his education was motivated by lessons he learnt during lockdown, and made it a point to clarify that he is not just at Wolves to hitch a ride to Tunisia.
“I realised that with sport, life is good when you can still play, but without games there are no bonuses,” said Mapfumo.
“(Due to the lockdown) I felt the need to start preparing for life after sport.
“Do not get me wrong, I want to play Volleyball for the right reasons, and if opportunities come my way then good. “However, what I need is self-sufficiency. “Joining UZ was based on me wanting to develop myself as an individual, and I was neither aware that they were going to Tunisia nor that Harare City had pulled out when I signed”.