TANAKA Hwara, who seemingly scored points for fun against NABA in the 2023 Zimbabwe Premier Volleyball League (ZPVL) final, was named the Most Valuable Player as the partisan crowd roared UZ Wolves to victory.
Hwara’s outstanding performance in the final against NABA helped his team secure the championship title, a week after seeing off the same opponents in the final of the Harare Volleyball Association end-of-season tournament.
UZ Wolves won 3-1.
Over the course of two days, the finals weekend of the ZPVL tournament drew in a crowd of over 10,000 enthusiastic fans to the UZ courts. The teams put on a spectacular display of local volleyball, providing a great spectacle for all in attendance. Hwara’s outstanding performance earned them the MVP award.
“This is my first award ever since I started playing volleyball, and I am very excited about it. I am looking forward to winning more games for UZ Wolves,” a smiling Hwara told EnterSportNews.
Hwara is one of two survivors from last year’s team, with some having moved on after finishing their studies and the team had to rebuild.
“This is a new team. We had to rebuild after some of our players left last year, and we didn’t think we would be able to adapt so quickly and win such big tournaments,” he added.
“It says a lot about the work we put in as a team, and we started training on the 17th of January this year. We are looking forward to doing well in the Zone 6 Championships in Lesotho.”
Playing the same opponent in back-to-back finals is not easy, and it is worse if that opponent is NABA full of former UZ players.
Hwara shut out all the noise and significance of the match by just doing his job.
“When we play NABA, I will just be concentrating on scoring, and I will not do it for myself but for the whole team,” said Hwara.
He spoke philosophically about Wolves being his family: “My team is my family. It’s like I am the breadwinner; I feed my family, and my family feeds me. Then we try by all means to win but work as a team.”
The MVP made a passionate plea towards sponsors.
“Corporates must come and support volleyball because we take it so seriously; for me, it’s my job and hassle at the same time. It’s about making friends and connections.”
Hwara is a showman; he loves playing in front of a loud home crowd, which gets him pumped.
“We have a huge connection with our fans; some don’t even understand volleyball fully, but they always come out and support us. That’s the love that feeds us to perform very well,” he said.
UZ Wolves and Hwara aim to make a name for themselves in Lesotho during the Zone 6 Senior Club Volleyball Championships after conquering Zimbabwe.
All top men’s and women’s teams in Southern Africa compete in Maseru to become Zone 6 champions.
