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Allen Khumalo, Sports Reporter
Dedicated, confident and passionate. These are the words that aptly describe up-and-coming swimming sensation Onesimus Ngwenya.

Onesimus (10), a Grade 4 pupil at Centenary Primary School in Bulawayo, has taken Matabeleland swimming by storm. He is the record holder of the 25m breaststroke (24.78 seconds) and 100m individual medley (1:34:06) in his age group.

Not only is he good in swimming, but he is also good in soccer, athletics, hockey and rugby.

Onesimus is a member of the Penguins Swimming Club in Bulawayo and he first came into contact with swimming in 2013 when his family had accompanied his sister for a training session at Crusaders Swimming Club.

He started crying saying he also wanted to swim and his parents surrendered him to one Mr Soganile, who taught him how to swim, and he has never looked back.

“I just enjoyed being in the water and this has become a life skill more than a sport to me,” said Onesimus.

“I always looked up to my sister as she was very good in swimming. The first day I got into the pool, I felt like I could do amazing things.

“My parents got me coaches, equipment and some video tutorials of other swimmers and that encouraged me to even push myself harder,” he said.

Onesimus wakes up at 5AM everyday and jogs for an hour and then goes to school. After school, he has his swimming training sessions from 5PM-6PM.

He says his first swimming lesson was scary, as he was being taught how to float on water and make strides.

“It was scary at first, but I felt like this was what I wanted. Making my first strides was the best time of my life.

“I felt like this is one thing I can excel in. What I enjoy most is that swimming is more of an individual sport and there are no injuries like in football or rugby. You also race against yourself, which gives me time to see my capabilities and not depend on others a lot.

“That way I get to test my strength and when I succeed I gun for more. Not that I’m not good with team work, but that self-reliance that comes with swimming is what I enjoy,” he said.

Onesimus said he sees himself representing the country at the Olympics one day and with swimming being a short term career, the youngster said he also wants to be a full time farmer.

“I know that I won’t swim for a long time, so education is a key thing. It’s tough balancing school and swimming, but it’s all about education and it should come first.

“I enjoy working outdoors and farming has always been of interest as I grew up watching my father, who is into farming.”

His father Phawulani Ngwenya said they had supported Onesimus ever since they discovered his passion for swimming.

“For us, the major thing was to get him a coach to develop his talent because we saw his potential and he’s self-motivated.

“There is nothing that he says he cannot do in swimming. If you ask him can you break this record, he says I will go for it. So when we saw his drive in swimming, we enrolled him into a good club,” said the older Ngwenya.

“The only challenge we have been facing is that swimming is a very expensive sport and when you need to go to competitions one has to be strong financially. He is a focused boy and we make sure that his grades are good at school and we also ensure he gets the right diet because sport is a science.

“As parents, we are happy with his achievements, both in swimming and schooling. God has been very kind to us and we are going to support him with all we can until his dream comes true,” he said.

Onesimus says besides looking up to his parents, his role model is legendary United States’ multiple Olympic and world record holder Michael Phelps.

— @khumzallen