Sports specialist masseur Lenon Gwara has become a trailblazer in the field of sports recovery and conditioning, especially on the local football scene following his appointment to be part of the Warriors technical team currently doing duty in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa.
Gwara is a VTCT European qualified specialist sports masseur who is also registered with the local practicing board MRCZ.
Specialist sports masseurs have become a very common feature in the world of football the world over although Zimbabwe has been lagging behind in that area.
Due to the hectic demands of modern football where clubs and national teams can play up to three matches in a week, sports masseurs become vital in the recovery of muscles and player welfare through specialist massage.
In top European football leagues clubs can employ as many as seven massage masseurs and Gwara has grown popular in the country with his well-known good player conditioning and good recovery techniques.
Gwara is working with Simba Bhora FC, who are currently in the local league and are third in the race for the Zimbabwe football championship.
“It's an honour to finally be recognised, especially in this new field of recovery. This is the field that is changing football and allowing players to play with very well-conditioned bodies. If you look at the South Africa national team, Bafana Bafana, they have two specialist sports masseurs that are also preparing their players in camp. "It’s credit to the Zifa normalisation committee for realising how important sports masseurs are in the camp,” Gwara said.
“I hope to be a door for other sports specialist masseurs and hope to open an organisation that trains sports specialist masseurs so that we modernise our sports industry. I believe that having these specialists in every national team will add to the success of the quality of our performance and I believe it will even add to us having good results.
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“So I'm also calling out to all the specialist sports masseurs to come forward and let's make the Zimbabwe sports industry grow with good performance and conditioning specialists,” he said.
Gwara worked with the Real Betis Academy team when they travelled to South Africa to play against football giants Mamelodi Sundowns and Supersport United. He has also worked with Harare giants Dynamos Football Club.
He wishes to see the continued growth and embracing of specialist sports masseurs in Zimbabwe.
“The other thing is I would love to have workshops with local clubs and international clubs, teaching and learning also on the importance of sports specialist masseurs and would love to call on the Zimbabwe sports medical industry to accept us and accommodate us.
“We would really want the chance and space to show our specialty area to add on the best results for the national team.
"Not only that, but local clubs also should have these people since this skill has grown to be a big field in the European or foreign sports industry.
“Lastly, I hope the local PSL board will allow us to have programmes to educate Zimbabwe premier league teams on the importance of people of our specialty. Also, I would like to thank Dynamos for giving me a chance to practice and show my specialty area as well as Simba Bhora and Mr. Simba Ndoro (club owner) for allowing me to have a home where I practise and showcase my skills," Gwara said.
“I am very humbled by Dr. Nicholas Munyonga for being a mentor in this field, Dr Thulani Ngwenya formerly with the South Africa national team and Coach Tonderai Ndiraya for being the first coach to allow me to showcase my talent in my specialist area as a sports masseurs.”
