Teenagers often struggle to settle in the local top-flight league.
Worse at pressure-cooker clubs like Dynamos where expectations are always weighty.
But it’s a different story for 18-year-old Prince Edward athletics and soccer captain Bill Antonio who has made a mockery of the unwritten rule.
The Glamour Boys coach Tonderai Ndiraya discarded most of the players who did duty for the country’s most successful team in 2019.
He opted to rope in new brooms into the fold including Antonio.
And the teenage sensation is sweeping clean.
Having had to sit on the terraces in Dynamos’ first match against Herentals in the Chibuku Super Cup due to registration issues, the Advanced Level Arts student has never looked back since being thrust into the line-up in the club’s second game.
He has already proven to be an asset for DeMbare with his flank forays delivering two assists in the four matches he has played in the ongoing cluster-structured Chibuku Super Cup tournament.
But how has he been balancing the pressure associated with turning out for the Harare giants and his school work?
“All you need is flexibility,” Antonio said. But the huge chunk of credit should go to my schoolmates at Prince Edward. Almost all of them were shocked when news filtered that I was going to be registered by Dynamos.
The sheer stature of Dynamos and my being a scholar was definitely something that made them start feeling for me.
“And guess what?
They formed several WhatsApp Groups and added me in all of them just to support me.
“They always feed me with words of inspiration and they motivate me so much. They lift me up even when the chips are down. That is the reason why I don’t give up easily on and off the field of play.
“I also have special parents and relatives on my corner. I think these are my biggest weapons.
They always encourage me and I then challenge myself to make them proud.
“I take my football as seriously as I take my school work. There isn’t really a big deal in balancing the two because of the way my schoolmates and everyone around me treat me.”
Yet, growing up in the dusty streets of Dzivarasekwa, it never crossed Antonio’s mind that one day he would be the man Dynamos would look up to deliver another routine cross to pick a crucial result.
Although he naturally loved the game, as do most kids, Antonio who was always playing barefoot on the tarmac never thought he would become a footballer of note especially at just 18.
“I was very wrong. I loved the game yes but, never even in wildest imaginations did it cross my mind that I would become a professional footballer.
“Even when I joined Diamond Eagles Academy between 2013 and 2014, I just thought we were playing some bit of organised football and nothing else.
Bill Antonio (right) with his friend Simba Jaja.
But, that is where I started to notice some improvements in some of the aspects of the game and I could execute several things which I wasn’t able to do prior to my joining this academy.
“I then signed for Dzivarasekwa Academy in 2015.
“This is where I began to take the game seriously after we won several Under-18 tournaments as I also won several individual awards.
“That is how Prince Edward Academy noticed me and the following year, they signed me. I was exposed to advanced training equipment and training methods. I improved a lot and I was made captain that same year.
“My most memorable moment was being named the player of the tournament in the Kedewere Tournament when I was barely 15 years old.”
Antonio has also represented Zimbabwe at Under-20.
“I was in the Young Warriors team that played in the Cosafa tournament in December last year. We failed to do well due to the complications brought by the Covid-19 pandemic but I really enjoyed every moment. I also scored one goal and that remains my proudest moment up to now. I believe that exposure also aided in improving my confidence and I can only keep on working hard.”
Antonio is one of the teenagers at Dynamos who coach Ndiraya believes will be key in the fight to restore the lost glamour at the giants.
“Bill is definitely one of the best teenagers around.
“He is good on the ball and even his off-the-ball runs are up there. We will be counting on him and I can only encourage him to work even harder as we go,” said Ndiraya.
Besides football, Antonio is also a sprint star at Prince Edward where he captains the athletics team on top of being a prefect at the same school.-herald.clz.w
