By Mathews Chansa
Do you remember Dick Mpheneka, Andrew Makwaza, Mambo Njovu, The Kangwa, Simunyola , and the Kapungwe brothers, John Mwalongo, Lighton Ndefwayi, Sidney Bwalya, Kachinga Sinkala, Brandon Kasulumbe or even perhaps Edgar Kazembe? I am guessing the last name might be the only familiar one – and only slightly at that if you are a real Zambian tennis fan.
Zambian tennis has been on the downward spiral since the late 1990’s with Lighton Ndefwayi and Sidney Bwalya being our last great tennis players and our Davis Cup heroes. Yes Edgar Kazembe has won a multiple Zambian and regional singles and doubles titles but do people really
know him?
Where is all the talent? Zambia was a huge sporting nation with one of the top soccer teams in the world, we had the Olympic champion boxing team,world class swimmers and the recent netball team medalist at the All African Games. Zambia boasts great weather, and passionate coaches, so why are we not producing world class tennis players?
The answer is complicated but it boils down to mismanagement and money. The national association is grossly under-funded and where there was once an entire organization committed to tennis in Zambia, the organization is now manned by a one-man show in the name of Tolani Zulu and few supporting casts in Lusaka and Copperbelt. He has single handedly kept the association alive by constantly soliciting sponsors and for bringing new life into Zambia tennis, bringing back the Zambia and Copperbelt junior and Senior open. He has also gone further by having former tennis greats based abroad to be part of the development process. This is one great step in the right direction. Lets’ hope it is the first of many. I remember watching South African Jeff
Coetzee, Wesley Moody and Zimbabwean Wayne Black at the Zambian ITF Men’s Satellite Open at Lusaka Club when I was a junior player and it was incredible.
So where are our talented juniors going? College. Thirty percent of all top Zambian juniors have previously and still finding their way into US colleges where they are moving through the colleges ranks and only a very few or none are then venturing out onto the tour. The top juniors in Zambia have no other opportunity even if they are good enough to turn professional; there is no support in the way of funding, training or coaching to help them make the transition from the junior ranks to the pro level.
College has been good to a lot of Zambian players as it has been giving them a great education and – for some – a spring board into coaching positioning and possibly owning their own tennis facilities.
But we have lost and still losing too many as these players have nowhere to turn after the great support they receive in college.This is my take on the situation. The sport has no international tennis heroes to catalyze and create an army of tennis followers,youngsters with the character and the desire to excel like their heroes.
The sport has grown to become an elitist one played almost entirely in social clubs. One figure, one successful Zambian tennis player, in the international ATP or WTA circuit, could kick-start an avalanche of interest in the sport. He or she could do for tennis what Kalusha Bwalya and Charles Musonda did for Zambia football, They served as the reference of limitless possibilities for the youth of Zambia , with the hunger and desire to escape from poverty into a new world of fame and fortune. This is the hunger that creates champions and heroes.
Tennis has to become a street game. It has to be grown from the schools. It has to have facilities in the communities. But more than anything else it has to have an authentic hero to illuminate the path so others can follow.
Let’s hope the new government who look on that,that is the good one my brother.
Not to forget the Musonda brotherz, Francis and the more prolific Lighton together with whom I lived on the same street and went to Chingola Secondary School. I hope Nchanga Racquets Club iz not just for beer and weekend social functionz, and the beautiful clay courts overgrown with grass.
I also remember the late Nora Maibwe from Ndola. Also Kabwe railway club rayton was quite active with the likes of Fred ngulube
Namushapo the Chipopola name mwebantu
The moment Don Chi Chi sold the mines, everything died. Do you expect Cho Nchos to come in and sponsor/promote sport?
By the way, Mat Chansa you are being sexist here. I remember a few girls who excelled. Mable Simpamba (if I am not mistakenwith the surname) wa one of them.
But we can only remember. Kitwe and Mufulira did very well for a very long time. But hey gone are the days of ZCCM.
@#2 Jay I thought Lighton was and went to schoolin Muf? Sidney, Kapungwe brothers and Kachinga were all Muf guys.
I remember Brandon for his tenacity. God the man hated losing. If you beat him in a game, prepare for a few swear words in the locker room. He may have been short but he had the balls.
I remember the good old days…. for the lusakan’s who remembers Liz Mulevu from Boz club?…what really happend kanshi?…hope we revive the courts soon…noti fye bola ati madala’s…
ya Brandon was good. i went to primary school with him at Rhokana. We eve lived in the same street in Twibukishe township in Kitwe. There was also in the same township Jacob Silungwe and Mbachi Munyenyembe. These guys were good.
ZCCM was the biggest sponsor of sport in Zambia. All the top sports personalities were from the CB. The company set up proper sports infrastructure in all the mining towns. Very good youth programmes were in place and as a result very good footballers, squash and tennis players were produced. After privatization all this was destroyed. just visit the former ZCCM run clubs and your heart will bleed. From 1991 there has just been a downward trend. Therefore that is why sports like tennis are dying
With better plan in place, I still believe sports can be revived without the support of parastatal companies. Associations need to realize that they can not run sports in Zambia without the support of school system. Primary and secondary schools used to be nursery where sports associations used to tap talent and they still can be. Theres nothing going on now in Zambia except national associations waiting for players to avail themselves to represent the nation. This is why we cant win anything at international level coz theres no developmet in place. Hopefully the new gvt and new education minister will revive sports in secondary schools
How can the article forget about DORA as one of the best junior players in early 80’s
It is quite painful to visit the Copperbelt towns now. Most of the tennis courts that people grew up playing tennis in have been overgrown with weeds and no sign of the game anywhere. Squash has similarly hit its fate. Funny thing is that when you pass through Lusaka club, there is an entire Copperbelt reunion of tennis and squash players…
as if lusaka is zambia. well every one want to be in lusaka now.
A few younger players that all went to the United States and played college tennis have been left out- Khambula Msiska, Gibson Phiri, Njavwa Mulwanda, Kabinga Pande JR and Collins Manjegwa to name a few.Â
Those guys were babies naiwe chintomfwa
Did Zambia produce a world known player before or lately?. How about the players that went to USA colleges? did any of them end up playing professional?
Zambia should get back into tennis. We should compete at world stage. There is money in these sports. Federer has even bought himself a jet but for Zambia we just need to put the money into humanitarian causes. Lets play to win. Serena has built school in Kenya. Rodger helps in Ethiopia and South Africa. Develop the sport and harvest later.
I think the writer must take time to visit the Olympic Youth Development Centre in Lusaka and acquaint himself with the activities taking place there regarding Tennis and any other sports.It is best to get a clear picture than a one sided story.Please note that levels of sponsorhip has dwindled affecting the performance of all athletes in different sports disciplines.I will therefore encourage the writer to visit OYDC and meet the team that is making a difference.
I agree with the Chairman.OYDC provides a better platform to develop tennis and any other olympic sport. We all need to be part of the development of sport in the country and not armchair critics. It’s not about what th country will do for you but what you’ll do for your country
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i am a zambian tennis player based in china, i am ranked number one in my university (for one year now) , iv been trying to get hold of zta and give them my progress but the response has been slow. iv given up on communicating with them now. i called zta to ask them if they would like to try me out and i told them how willing i was to play for my country but they told me the “money issue”. how upsetting … i wonder where all the money goes. :p
Good Luck!