Zimbabwe: Continental Phase Platform to Shine – Madure

As the men’s junior handball team gears for the International Handball Federation Trophy Continental Phase tournament coach Tafadzwa Madure says this is an opportunity for the young players to showcase themselves.

The event is due to take place from Saturday to next week Wednesday at the Ethiopian Sports Academy in Addis Ababa.

It is featuring junior (Under-20) and youth (Under-18) teams.

Madure’s team are camped at Prince Edwards School while training sessions are taking place at the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex.

They are set to leave for Ethiopia tomorrow.

“The exposure that they are going to get on this stage, it’s more like they are going to get recognition continentally.

“There will be scouts out there who will be looking for these young players, so they should go out there and showcase themselves…they are showcasing that in Zimbabwe we play handball while they showcase themselves.

“You never know, one day you may be scouted and start playing in Europe.

“That’s their opportunity because you never get scouts coming from up there, coming to Zimbabwe to watch them play.

“That’s the platform that they need to use,” said Madure.

Zimbabwe are up against Congo, Guinea, Reunion and Rwanda.

The games will be played on a round-robin format.

And Zimbabwe will get the ball rolling against Reunion on Saturday, the first day of the competition.

“In terms of the opponents it’s a bit tricky. I am impressed and I know that these boys they want to win and we can do it, we can win.

“But judging with the time that we had for preparing, we really wanted more time. That’s the honest truth but we will go there and perform.

“We have gone there previously we have seen how other teams play and we have even seen them playing during their zonal games.

“They are quite fast so it’s going to be a very hard and difficult tournament for us but we will play.

“We will go out there and showcase ourselves,” Madure said.

The junior side coach is pleased with the commitment and positive attitude from the players despite some setbacks in their preparation plan due to limited resources.

They had hoped for more time working together as a team ahead of their departure but financial challenges restricted them to only a few days.

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“I am actually happy; the boys have been training. I am pretty sure of that because we did a fitness test first day, so some of the boys are fit because they were playing club games and some were following the individual training programme that they had during the long break we had before the periodic camp.

“So, we are now working on set plays mainly, we are no longer working on endurance and conditioning of players.

“I am quite impressed because they are ready for the games. They are adapting very well in terms of the set plays that we are introducing…I am really happy with the way these guys are learning,” said Madure.

Junior (Under-20) Competition Schedule

Saturday: Rwanda vs Congo, Zimbabwe vs Reunion.

Sunday: Congo vs Zimbabwe, Rwanda vs Guinea.

Monday: Guinea vs Reunion, Zimbabwe vs Rwanda.

Tuesday: Guinea vs Zimbabwe, Reunion vs Congo.

Wednesday: Reunion vs Rwanda, Congo vs Guinea.