FIELD HOCKEY’S KUNDAYI MAWEMA NAMED RIAIAW DISTINGUISHED ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

April 08, 2010

FIELD HOCKEY’S KUNDAYI MAWEMA NAMED RIAIAW DISTINGUISHED ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Senior captain Kundayi Mawema led the Bulldogs throughout the 2009 season and posted nationally ranked goals against average and save percentage numbers.

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The criteria for the RIAIAW Distinguished Athlete of the Year Award has three key components. The honoree must possess leadership qualities. She must stand as a role model to others, displaying such coveted assets as perseverance, commitment, ethical behavior and academic success. She must enjoy an above average degree of physical talent.

The Rhode Island Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (RIAIAW) would be hard pressed to find a candidate more worthy or more fitting of the award’s core values than Bryant University senior Kundayi Mawema.

A four-year starter in goal for the Bulldog field hockey team, Mawema has recorded 31 wins in her career and has been an integral member of the team since first setting foot on campus as a freshman in 2006. On the field, Mawema has proven again and again that she is second to none, guiding Bryant into the Division I ranks as a junior and again as a senior captain after leading the Bulldogs to postseason berths in each of her first two seasons.

The Harare, Zimbabwe native has recorded an astonishing 4921 minutes between the pipes and holds an all-time program record with 552 career saves. Mawema posted a .754 career save percentage in 74 appearances and 69 starts donning the Black and Gold, and she enjoyed arguably her best year as a senior, boasting a .795 save percentage that ranked her eighth in the nation.

Mawema was a 2007 Northeast-10 Conference Second Team selection after posting a 12-7 record in Bryant’s final year at the Division II level, and in 2009 earned the program’s first-ever All-Northeast Conference honor, garnering a second team accolade for her 7-10 record and nationally ranked goals against average and save percentage.

And while Mawema has proven to be the best the Black and Gold have ever positioned between the pipes, she is just as impressive off the field. A 2009-10 SAAC co-chair, the senior has held positions on campus throughout her illustrious collegiate career, working on Bryant’s Senior Advisory Council, in the Admissions Events Office and at the Douglas and Judith Krupp Campus Library. Mawema has been heavily involved in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in her time in Smithfield, also serving as Secretary in 2008-09.

A true leader of both her team and her peers, Mawema will stand as one of the most inspiring and remarkable student-athletes to ever grace the halls of Bryant University and Bulldog Athletics.

But her resume commanded such deference before she even arrived on the Bryant campus. Her well-respected and powerful presence – both on the field and off – had already earned her significant international playing experience before joining the collegiate ranks, having been a member of Zimbabwe’s 2005 junior national field hockey team and competing at the 2005 Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile.

A talented and well-rounded student-athlete, Mawema’s presence has been an incredible asset to every person, team and organization she’s touched, a characteristic that will continue to bring this gifted individual lifelong returns.