Training helps African athletes earn college tuition

	The Worldwide Scholarship group's 4 x 100 relay team met current track greats like 100 meter champion Tyson Gay at the Penn Relays. Munya Mairare

Having traveled 18 hours from his native Zimbabwe, Munya Maraire, the track coach for the Worldwide Scholarships team -- a group of athletes from the African nation --had come too far to simply spend his day as a track coach sitting in the stands.

So there he was on April 28, walking the Ben Franklin Field paddock during the 113th running of the Penn Relays. Always on the move, he re-introduced himself to old friends in the track community and familiarized himself with faces from the world stage. All around him sprinters ran, milers paced themselves and field athletes threw hammers and heaved javelins. Still in shape from his football and track days at Penn State, the 27-year-old coach blended in with his silver track suit and bright orange sneakers, all the while watching his boys' relay team place seventh in the USA versus the World 4 x 100 meter race.

"For our guys to come out here and see the world's best competition was something that they can take back with them and use as motivation and put their talents in perspective," said Maraire, who ran track and played football at Penn State from 1999-2002 after coming to America from Zimbabwe.

What Maraire and his runners saw that day was not just their own competition on the track, but a collection of track and field royalty as well. Mixed in with the high school-aged athletes were Olympians such as Carl Lewis wearing sunglasses and doing television work, as well as recent 100 meter national champion Tyson Gay running his own victorious heats as a member of Team USA. "To see such success in the flesh is important," Maraire says. "Our guys cannot just train against times. To compete and see the best in the world is something that is necessary to desire betterment."

It is that idea of building for betterment that Maraire and his co-workers at the Worldwide Scholarship facilities in Harare, Zimbabwe have assembled over the last five years to get to this point. Running a program that was initiated to develop and link talented African athletes with the vast amount of opportunities that are available to them overseas, mainly in the USA, they have placed 56 athletes in Division I colleges, such as Florida State, Pittsburgh, Harvard and Penn, on scholarship and currently have another crop rising. "A lot of foundations help place finished products in the States, but we want to develop these kids from the ground up. It's important that they receive this help from home."

The path that Maraire now helps to lead teenagers down, is one that he helped blaze. In 1997, Maraire followed his sister, Tricia Evans, to United States. Eventually he joined the United States Air Force and was stationed at a base in Fairbanks, Alaska. It was there that Maraire excelled on the track, earning the state's highest track and field honors as a senior, the same year that future Duke and NBA star Carlos Boozer was drawing attention to the region. "I will say that my path was a little different than that of Carlos," says Maraire.

Once he was enrolled at Penn State, Maraire went on to set the track school record with the 4 x 400 meter relay team, which was ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. in 2000. But speed was not enough to satisfy Maraire's hunger. Looking for another challenge, Mararire showed up at Joe Paterno's front door one morning at 6:45 in 1999 and told the legend, "I am the fastest man at Penn State, I will make your team better."

Maraire did, eventually leaving his mark as a running back and wide receiver for the Nittany Lions and becoming the first Zimbabwean to try out for the NFL. He never made the league, though, leaving him to choose follow the route back to his roots. "Munya has always been one to work harder than the rest at what he does, and he invited me to come over there and help out," says Harry Groves, who coached Maraire at Penn State and recently retired. "He told me about the cheetahs and all, I think he'll be just fine without me chasing after tigers with a stopwatch."

While in America for two weeks surrounding the relays, Maraire helped bring his athletes to the University of Pittsburgh and other campuses to meet with coaches. That enabled one of his athletes, Antony Hobwana, to earn a scholarship to Pitt.

Though they do not pay tuition, the kids in the program, who range in age from ages 15-20, live in a house with a caretaker and train at the University of Zimbabwe. Their education prepares them for life in the States and elsewhere, transcending boundaries while providing them with a background to come back to Zimbabwe or remain abroad.

Now completing another school year, Maraire and his co-workers are planning the Africa 1,000 Coaching Safari. The event will take place in December, and will be open to coaches to see the continent's top athletes in soccer, tennis, basketball, track and field, golf and tennis. "What good would it be to go to the States and not help others to make the journey as well," asks Maraire. "Our kids are still wide-eyed by the experience. I want to see more kids widen their eyes."