22/10/2025
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When Brenda Masinga stepped off the plane in Norway in September 2022, the biting Scandinavian wind was the first shock. The second? Seeing three-year-olds wielding tennis rackets with surprising precision.
It wasn’t always like this, however. By the time Brenda was three, she wasn’t wielding a racket. She hadn’t even seen one. But by 10, she was hooked. Today, at 30, Brenda isn’t just a tennis coach. She’s a coach with an international edge, having spent almost a year in Norway as part of a youth sports exchange programme supported by Norec and the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports (NIF), through the Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC).
Her journey from the courts of the Blantyre Sports Arena (formerly Blantyre Youth Centre) to the community centres of Norway began after visa delays pushed back her start. But when she finally arrived in the land of freezing temperatures, she was ready.
“The ‘honeymoon phase’ was exciting. Everything was new. I didn’t know what to wear. We were told there’s no bad weather, just bad clothing,” she recalls with a laugh.
Her host organisation, Furuset Tennis IF, ran after-school and weekend activities that engaged kids and parents in sport, designed to keep youth off the streets. Brenda, alongside a Zambian colleague, was thrust into the thick of it, leading programmes and discovering just how young sport development can start.
“In Malawi, kids start tennis around age 9 or 10; in Norway, I saw three-year-olds swinging racquets,” she says.
This revelation, along with the independence she was given to design and run programmes, left a lasting mark.
“Before, I just saw myself as a coach. But there, we had to take the lead, figure things out, and make things happen.”
That leadership spark followed her home. Back in Malawi, she volunteered at the Malawi Academy of Sport, eager to apply the lessons she had learnt in Norway.
“Two of the kids I trained ended up representing Malawi at the Region 5 Games,” she says.
Perhaps the biggest shift came when a parent, impressed by her work, offered to sponsor her to open a new sports academy. That’s how Smash Squad Academy was born, officially registered in July 2025, but long nurtured in Brenda’s vision.
“We needed something fresh,” she explains. “The kids were stuck doing the same things, but they needed to be exposed to new ideas.”
Brenda’s story reflects the goals of NIF, which extended its Norad-supported programme to Malawi in 2023.
“Since Zambia and Zimbabwe are not high-priority countries for Norad, we wanted to include one of their priority countries. Given that we already had a Malawian partner involved in the Norec exchange programme, Malawi naturally became the preferred option,” Susanne Brovold Hvidsten of NIF explains.
NIF’s support to Malawi aims to strengthen the capacity of sports associations to deliver safe, inclusive and accountable programmes. It also seeks to develop resource-supported partnerships that expand the reach of sport, and foster sustainability by building organisations that can thrive beyond donor support.
Currently, MOC is NIF’s sole direct partner in Malawi, with Judo Malawi also benefitting via a tripartite programme with Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Alongside financial support, NIF offers training, mentorship and networking opportunities such as the annual partner meeting, where lessons and best practices are shared.
For MOC, the partnership with NIF has been transformative.
“The NIF–MOC programme provides training and exchange opportunities that foster governance, capacity and sports development,” says MOC Executive Director Naomie Chinatu.
These include governance tools such as constitutions, strategic plans and financial policies as well as technical training for athletes, coaches and administrators.
So far, eight Malawian coaches have been trained as coach developers, while communities such as Dzaleka Refugee Camp have benefitted from safe sport workshops.
Alongside Brenda, Chinatu cites Hope Chisamanga, Medson Ntila and Lusungu Banda (coach developers), and judo practitioner Chikondi Kathewera and Austin Chikwapula and Fostina from Dzaleka Camp, who emerged as leaders in their respective disciplines.
“The partnership has significantly enhanced governance and inclusivity. Female Paralympic athletes, for example, have gained vital awareness and skills through safeguarding and empowerment workshops,” Chinatu adds.
Looking ahead, MOC wants to scale up international exchanges and capacity-building to nurture skilled professionals.
Brenda’s journey from Blantyre to Norway and back is a story of personal transformation. But it also mirrors the change underway in Malawi’s sport sector, with NIF and MOC laying foundations for safe, inclusive and sustainable development.
Her advice to others with a chance to go abroad? “Leave home behind. Arrive with an open mind. Be ready to unlearn, relearn and lead.”
Brenda also realised that some doors remained closed to her, not for lack of skill, but for lack of an academic degree. So, she enrolled at the Catholic University of Malawi, working toward a bachelor’s in Business Management.
“Tennis raised me,” she says. “But Norway opened my eyes to what’s possible.”
