Basketball was the only thing that got Yolanda Matayataya through her early years at Shiriyedenga Primary school in Harares Glen Norah high-density suburb. (Pictured: Zimbabwean-born Yolanda Matayataya seeks success in America)
With the ball almost bouncing higher than her, she learnt how to control it, run with it, pass it and shoot in the hoop for points without thinking where she wanted the game to take her. I remember when I started playing basketball I was so so tiny and people never imagined that I was going to take it up seriously. It was a game considered to be for the salads (rich class) in the group A schools and when Hoops 4 Hope brought the game to the ghetto we knew we had been given a chance to show what we had, said Matayataya.
The former Glen Norah High Schoolgirl got a scholarship to Harares Roosevelt Girls School before being offered another to her current school, Nothlea High in Bulawayo. She has already featured for the Under-20 national team together competing with big names such as Charity Mucucuti, Alex Maseko, Alice Mandivheya and Patience Chinhoyi for a place in the senior national team.
Matayataya believes the sport will take her to the United States of America, where basketball is one of the most popular professional sports. Playing for the national team has been the most amazing thing that has happened to me in basketball. It has shown me that I can do what I want to if I continue working hard. I wish to play basketball in America and I know it is possible, she said.
Post published in: Athletics