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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO basketball side Southern Mavericks has donated basketball equipment to Milton High School as part of their efforts to improve the quality of the game in schools.

The equipment consisted of a full branded Milton kit of shorts, jerseys, socks as well as basket balls. The donation comes as a major boost to the revival of the game in schools, as the Bulawayo Basketball Association has rolled out coaches that train students at schools for free.

Speaking at the handover, Mavericks director Nqobizitha Dube encouraged pupils to take sport seriously.

“As part of our social corporate responsibility initiative, we decided to donate the kit to the school and we hope the small gesture will motivate the learners to take sports seriously. Not all of us are gifted in academics, but some are good in sport and that is why we want to help in every way we can,” said Dube.

Milton High sports director Tendai Machawira said: “We are gratified by the timely donation, as it has eased some burdens for the school. We are very delighted with Mavericks’ gesture. We used to be a powerhouse in the city and we want to get back to that status. Gestures such as this one will go a long way in helping us grow. We have five boys who have been selected for the provincial team, which shows we have talent in the school. The hope is that they continue to support us. l am very confident that with this kind of support we can only continue to soar.”

Basketball Association of Zimbabwe (BUZ) president Joe Mujuru hailed the Mavericks’ initiative.

“From a basketball perspective, this is good when we have clubs that are coming to grow the sport at the grassroots level. I believe this is what every other sport code wants to encourage. If we can have this done at Milton, we should have this done at every school in the city then the growth of the sport will be inevitable,” said Mujuru.