Former hockey star now ensures internet access

Joseph ‘Blaz’ Kashamako retired a satisfied man, because he made it onto Namibia’s national hockey team.

Born and bred at Swakopmund, the former Collegians and Unam hockey team star took up the sport while he was a pupil at Swakopmund-based English High School (now Westside High) out of frustration with the politics of football.

“I started playing football like any other black kid growing up at Mondesa. I was really enjoying myself on the football pitch, and I played centre-back for my school team, but I played as forward for African Warriors in the first division.

“However, I became frustrated with the game after I missed out on the opportunity to go on the trials that took Razundara Tjikuzu to Germany.

“Tjikuzu’s school team coach, who was also his coach at his club Refugees, was the one conducting the trials,” Kashamako protested.

Kashamako says he consciously decided to take up hockey and started to play for his school team after an opportunity was presented by a visiting team of development officials from Windhoek, who introduced the sport at his school in 1992.

Soon young Kashamako started to impress so much that former Collegians hockey club founder and coach Mervin Beukes approached him to play for his club in Windhoek.

“The road to success was never easy. I was so much into hockey that I would travel by train to come play midweek matches on a Wednesday in Windhoek, and my classmates could not believe when reading in the newspapers hte next day that I even scored.

“My father and Beukes played very influential roles in my hockey career. My dad was very supportive and he would look after my needs, while Beukes invested quite a lot in me. I even stayed at his house when I came to play in Windhoek,” he says.

Kashamako says things started looking up after the Collegians merged with Unam in 1996, but it took almost eight years before they became a formidable force in the local hockey fraternity.

They played under Unam with Erwin Handura in the driving seat, and he remembers their first match, which saw them receiving a thorough 13-0 thumping by Wanderers, very well.

When the project took off Unam went on to dominate local hockey completely.

They went on to win the league for 11 years uninterrupted between 2000 and 2011.

Kashamako, who went on to captain the senior men’s national team for over 10 years, and Unam completely changed the Namibian hockey scene, which was also reflected by the huge presence of their players in both the men’s and women’s national teams.

He says players easily reached the national team, but coaches found it hard to select a formidable team from such a limited pool of players.

“I am, however, a very competitive person, which was reflected by my character on the hockey field. I can’t handle losing, and I would try everything possible to help my team out of a losing situation,” he says.

The former Unam star was only 15 years old when he was first called up to the national team as a non-travelling reserve in 1992.

But he travelled with the national team to Rondebosch in the Western Cape, where they went to prepare for the African Nations Cup which was hosted by Zimbabwe.

However, Kashamako claims the sad part of his career is that he never enjoyed juniors, apart from a single tournament he participated in.

“I had many good matches with the national team, but our opening encounter against Egypt will go down as my most memorable match for the national team.

“We were leading 2-1 at the end of the first half and all the coaches from the other countries came to watch our matches.

“Usually a match between Egypt, who are one of the continent’s powerhouses, and Namibia would be considered a walk-over for the North Africans, but we really held our own in the end.

“I scored the first and assisted the second for Reagon Craig as we went down 7-2,” he says.

The former midfielder points says although the 18-0 hiding Namibia received against Germany at the 2011 Indoor World Cup looked humiliating, it actually acted as a learning curve for him and his teammates.

“We were whipped thoroughly yes, but what many people don’t understand is that while we had to take leave from our various jobs, all the two European nations are full professionals who are paid to play hockey full-time.

“That encounter was really an eye-opener, and we learned a lot going forward. Our participation at the world cup elevated indoor hockey.

“It took the form of the Namibian team to another level. We have the facilities for indoor hockey, so we just had to improve drastically,” he says.

WORK, FAMILY

The single father of three is currently employed as a wireless access engineer.

“This is a very exciting and interesting job. I am also responsible for broadband services, which is basically high-speed internet access.

“I am responsible for the design, planning and implementation, and monitoring of all the company’s network platforms.

“One of the biggest challenges I am facing in my job is to be on the lookout for new developments. I am also required to assist my colleagues when needed,” he says.

Kashamako is currently acting as access section engineer.

His advice to young hockey players is to work hard on their individual skills.

“The coach does not have the time to work on individual players’ skills, because his job is to oversee the overall performance of the team as a collective.”