A fighter after Bruce Lee’s heart
MARTIAL ARTS legend Bruce Lee’s style of Jeet Kune Do revolved around one principle – “absorb what is useful and discard what is useless”.
From his formative years, studying Wing Chun (a mixture of grappling and close combat), boxing, kung Fu and Judo, right up to the time he founded Jeet Kune Do, the mantra was always a key component of Lee’s philosophy.
Now 44 years after his death, Lee’s teachings are inspiring a Zimbabwean athlete.
Wilfred Mashaya is geant with bwe Republic a fighter to have Lee’s heart.
Mashaya has his life and career around that of the late Asian fighter. “I am a nineties kid, and if you remember clearly, martial arts movies were very big during that era,” said Mashaya. “Bruce Lee was my favorite actor and fighter, and everything I have done so far has been modelled around how he lived his life.” Whi le the 35-year-old appears to be relatively unknown in Zimbabwe, odds are one is likely to have come across Mash- aya or seen some of his the- atrical work during the ZRP’s pass-out parades, Agri- cultural Show perfor- mances or any one of their numerous other func- tions. There, Mashaya goes by his monikers “Zimbabwe Ninja” and “Lady Ninja”. After years of toiling, Mashaya’s big break only came late last year when the former Harare Polytechnic student was invited to take part in the International Kobudo Competition and Samurai Show in Russia. There, some the world’s best fighters and exhibitionist gathered and competed in Kobudo, which is premised on the use of weapons.
Mashaya took part in the Weapon-nunchucks and weapon freestyle categories and returned home with a silver and a bronze medal respectively.
“The Russia trip was nerve wrecking but l had exciting experiences,” he recalls.
“There I was in my first international tournament, the only African and black person in the whole tournament, competing against some of the best fighters in the world. “I learnt a lot during those five days of competition and felt some sort of satisfaction when I won the medals.”
With Zimbabwe now a member of the World Kobudo Association, Mashaya has already started grooming talent.
“I already have a handful of students and hopefully with time, we will grow in numbers. So far, I was the only one taking up the sport, but I expect that to change after Russia” he said.
For his efforts, Mashaya was last month awarded the Achiever’s Award by the Zimbabwe Karate Union.