Methembe Ndlovu and Agent Sawu
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
BANTU Rovers are revelling in glory following a successful season in which they dominated all competitions by winning all age-group titles from the Under-14s up to the senior team which landed the Zifa Southern Region Division One League title.
Rovers, formed in 2008, comfortably won the Zifa Bulawayo Province Junior League Serie A Under-14, 16 and 18 titles, while their first team were crowned regional champions after beating Amagagasi 1-0 in Victoria Falls on the last day of the season.
Wilbert Sibanda, Rovers’ general manager, said they were enjoying the fruits of investing in junior development and his club would strive to be the best institution in grooming young talent.
He said Rovers’ best performing group were the Under-18s, who won the league title without losing a game, replicating their 2011 “golden generation”, which had the likes of Netherlands-based Marvelous Nakamba, South African-based Kudakwashe Mahachi, FC Platinum’s Moyo twins Kevin and Elvis, as well as Chicken Inn’s Teenage Hadebe.
Rovers’ teams have Agent Sawu heading the Under-14 and 16 sides, technical director Methembe Ndlovu in charge of the Under-18s and Johannes Ngodzo the senior team.
Sibanda heaped praises on Ngodzo for becoming the first coach to win them the Southern Region Division One League title.
At the beginning of the season, Rovers made a deliberate decision to have two thirds of their first team players being Under-20 in a move aimed at giving exposure to youngsters in highly competitive matches.
They had the likes of Denzel Khumalo, Leslie Lunga, Bukhosi Sibanda and Ngoni Chodeva, who are members of the national Under-20 squad, featuring prominently in the Southern Region Division One League.
Meanwhile, Rovers, who recruited renowned juniors’ trainer Dumaza Dube at the beginning of the year as the club’s academic coordinator, have started the process of securing scholarships for their youngsters.
“This year saw us facilitate scholarships for two student athletes Marvin Sibanda and Nkosiphile Dube to bring the number of Bantu Rovers’ students currently studying in the United States to seven. We have already started the process of applying for 2017 scholarships as well as recruiting good players and student athletes,” Sibanda said
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