A family tree of footballers
BLESSED MAPUWA seems to have been happily favoured.
His name is full of meaning; “divinely or happily favoured”.
Even though his parents dissuaded him from following his childhood ambition of becoming a professional football player, he finds comfort in assisting his kids in achieving their own goals.
He is the father of Wellington (21), Washington (18) and Winne (11), who have shown great potential in domestic football circles.
The youngest of the trio, Winne, is quickly proving to be cut from the cloth that makes Mighty Warriors stars.
Although she is only 11, she burst into the Zimbabwe team for the Girls Under-15 at the just-ended COSAFA edition of the CAF African Schools Championship at Gateway High School.
Winne featured four times for Zimbabwe and scored a goal. She also provided an assist.
This was a huge milestone for an 11-yearold, who is still doing primary education at Herentals.
Her brother Washington can consider himself unlucky after just missing out on the Castle Lager Premiership’s Most Promising Player accolade.
Washington, who had a stellar season with it means league debutants Green Fuel, scoring four times and providing eight assists, finished just one vote behind the eventual winner, Elton Chikona, of Dynamos, who polled 16.
The Legends Football Academy (LFA) alumni was tied in second place with another Dynamos player, Junior Makunike.
With age still on his side, “The Equaliser’’, as Washington is popularly known, could still fight to the accolade next season.
The eldest of the trio, Wellington, another LFA product, has made over five appearances for the Young Warriors, having featured for the national Under-17 and Under-20 sides.
Midway through the campaign, he suffered an injury that prevented his season with Mutare City in the Eastern Region Division One from going as planned.
But the fact that his children are playing and doing well for their respective teams has left the modest Blessed a proud father.
Blessed paid special tribute to LFA director and coach Farai Dhliwayo for laying the platform for his children to pursue their dreams.
He has been watching as Winnie continues to learn the ropes under the watchful eye of Dhliwayo, whose academy is an international affiliate of English Premiership outfit Everton.
LFA have also produced Polokwane City striker Douglas Mapfumo, the youngest of the few Zimbabweans playing in the South
African Premiership at the moment.
Blessed believes the exposure Washington received when they travelled to the Cristiano Ronaldo academy in Portugal last year has had a rub-on effect on his children.
He feels it helped them see the bigger picture of what it entails for one to become a professional footballer.
“It feels good that three of my children have taken this route, and I’m grateful to God because it was always my dream to play football, but I did not manage to reach the desired end due to reasons beyond my control,’’ Blessed said.
“I have always known that they would be good players because I was really good.
“I’m not even surprised by Winne because it’s something I saw in her when she was very young, and they make me proud.
“I think Legends Academy have made it possible for my children to reach this far because, at this young age, they have all shown great potential, and it is now up to them to reach their potential,’’ he said.
Blessed advised fellow parents against standing in the way of the sporting dreams of their children.
“As parents, we have a role to play in discovering how best we can help our children pursue their dreams.
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