Spotting a white St Michaels golf t-shirt, a white boxer short, matching long stockings and red football boots, Raphael Tarumbidzwa Mukondiwa resembles a boy keen to retrace Warriors legend Peter Ndlovu’s footsteps.
BY BRIAN NKIWANE
But alas, the seven-and-half-yearold kid has just proved that he is Zimbabwe’s own version of the “Karate Kid”.
At this tender age, Raphael has already gone beyond the border representing Zimbabwe at the just ended Zone Six Junior Karate Championships held in Namibia, as well as being the youngest brown belt holder in the country so far.
Raphael was one of the four Zimbabwe junior karatekas who won gold medals, before winning silver at the just-ended championships in Namibia.
His mother Ntombizondwa Mazhandu Mukondiwa spoke to Standardsport on how it all started for Raphael.
“All along I thought my son was going to be a great footballer, but I discovered that he had other plans for his sporting career,” said the mother.
Born on September 26 2005 in Masvingo, the family moved to Bulawayo where Raphael started going to school at St Thomas in the City of Kings.
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“It was one Friday that I went to pick my boy from school. As I drove out of the school yard, I met one guy whom I had known for a long time, Ndabezinhle Mazibuko, a lawyer by profession. “After a brief chat he told me that he was at the school to train some kids karate. I then asked him to get Raphael from his class and see if he was interested in the sport. Mazibuko came back to me after three days and the feedback was just astonishing. The boy is exceptionally good. From that day, Raphael never misses a karate session,” said the former senior magistrate who is now into private practice.
Raphael started training at school as well as taking extra lessons at Mazibuko’s karate club. “So after training at school, Raphael would go for extra lessons at Parkview Karate Club owned by Mazibuko where he would mix and mingle with other adult karatekas,” she said.
Hard work and commitment saw Raphael springing surprises in his first grading.
“His first grading saw him skip a number of belts to orange belt at the age of five. This means he skipped from white, yellow stripe, yellow belt and the orange stripe to orange belt.”
The nomadic family had to again transfer to Harare, but that to Raphael was not a problem at all as his master referred him to Sensei Simbarashe Mazhata, a karate instructor based in the capital. “When we moved to Harare, he went to St Michael School as well as training at Belgravia with Sensei Mazhata” she said.
During his second grading in August last year, Raphael again skipped the green stripe belt to the green belt.
In February this year, his third grading of his karate career, saw him skip the brown stripe to brown belt second queue.
But his mother lamented the costs that goes with the sport.
“It has been expensive for me. I have to foot all the bills each time he competes. At times you end up sacrificing as a parent. I think something has to be done,” she added.
The mother also said she has never had problems with the multi-talented boy, who is also The Little Dragons Football Team defender, since he took up karate.
“I think karatekas are the most disciplined people. My kid is at times beaten by other boys but he does not fight back. I ask him why, someone with a brown belt being beaten by boys of his age and he just keeps quiet. It shows that these people have instilled discipline in him.”
Mukondiwa’s international career begins
The youngest brown belt second queue holder in the history of karate in Zimbabwe, started his international career last year in August just after his second grading when he participated in the Japanese Ambassador Cup where he won bronze in the kata 9-10 years category while he was six.
His second event was in Harare again in November when he took part in the kata and Kumite styles in the 7-8 years category, winning gold in kata and silver in Kumite.
“At that time, he had already been selected to represent the country at the just-ended championships. He had started training with adults at Old Hararians Sports Club where the national team trains and at the Rizende Karate Club,” added the mother with a smile.
In Namibia, Raphael took part in both kata and Kumite categories, winning gold in the kata and silver in Kumite where they had to stop the match after the boy had an accidental contact which caused continuous bleeding.
