The game of cricket, a sport which a majority of Sri Lankans are addicted to, looks set to engulf volleyball-crazy Seenigama and its surrounding regions. The month of April saw the launch of a cricket training camp involving 10 boys’ schools from the region.
It was an energetic and enjoyable day for 64 enthusiastic youngsters, who took advantage of “Cricket Training & Development Camp – Coaching for Success” on the last Saturday in April. The boys, who seized all opportunities at this inaugural training camp were the cricketing cream from Vimala Buddhi, Sri Sumangala, Karandeniya, Rewatha College and Madampe and are the top four players from these school’s u-13, u-15, u-17 & u-19 teams.
A simple ceremonial opening marks the
launch of the inaugural ‘Training Camp’
A warm and friendly inauguration ceremony marked the start to the training camp. The boys were delighted to have both Siddath Wettimuny – the former Sri Lanka national player and cricket administrator, grace the occasion as chief guest and as guest of honour Jayantissa Ratwatte – former Trinity College cricket captain and Sri Lanka national rugby player. The MCC local trustees – Vijaya Malalasekera, Ajith Dias and Mano Ponniah are coordinating this training camp through the Foundation of Goodness, which is providing logistic and other backup support.
The “Cricket Training & Development Camp – Coaching for Success” was made possible because of the kind sponsorship by the 9/12th Lancers (Prince of Wales). This is the Royal Lancers way of saying “thank you” to the welcome and hospitality extended to their cricket team that toured Sri Lanka in 2006. “As a token of our appreciation, the Regiment raised funds in order to participate in the training and coaching project. The scheme, which covers schools in a large area affected by the Tsunami of 2004, will we hope bring opportunities that will engender team spirit, sportsmanship and a love of cricket in all those participating” said Colonel Tim Robinson, Commanding Officer 9/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales).
Fine tuning cricketing skills at the
MCC Sri Sumangala College Cricket Grounds
This was the first of a series of on-day monthly camps that will run for a year and hopefully beyond, which involve 10 selected schools from Galle district. Every last Saturday of the month will see 5 of the 10 schools hosted to the training camp thereby each school will have the opportunity to participate in a total of 6 training camps.
These training camps have been designed to employ the latest approaches in mental, physical, technical and technique training and also incorporate video analysis. The camps are being led by head copach Hemantha Devapriya, a former national cricketer. “There is immense talent down south where there are a number of gifted boys, all naturally fit and willing to work hard and this is a dream for them” said Devapriya as the initial days proceedings drew to a close. He was well supported by three assistant coaches Susantha Karunarathna (who played for Sri Lanka as well), Pubudu Aluvihara and Kapila Hettiwatta and also by the active participation of the selected schools’ cricket coaches (as the training camp has been designed with their inclusion).
A training camp such as this would have forever been a fantasy, if MCC and the Surrey Cricket County Club had not stepped in to upgrade what are now known as the ‘Seenigama Oval’ and the ‘MCC Sri Sumanagala College Cricket Grounds’ in the aftermath of the tsunami tragedy. They believed that sport would help to uplift the spirit of the survivors and help them to rebuild their lives. Their gracious work to renovate and upgrade these two cricket grounds lent towards making this training camp a possibility, which in the past would have been a mere pipedream. MCC built the Sri Sumanagala Cricket Ground just like Surrey County Cricket Club built did up the Seenigama Oval in collaboration with the Foundation of Goodness.
The next leg of the training camp gets underway on 31 May when the 2nd batch of 64 participants from the other 5 schools selected from the Galle district – Devapathiraja, Podiwella, Elpitiya, Dharmasoka and Kularatna, will be hosted.
Friendly Game
The spotlight was on cricket earlier in the month of April as well, when a visiting u-15 team from the UK contested a team from Seenigama and its neighbourhood. The Forrest School from the UK had a dual purpose in visiting Seenigama. Before the friendly game they took up community work and engaged in a cleaning project at AVIVA and KMPG at the MCC Centre of Excellence at Seenigama.
This was not a first, many teams form overseas have visited Seenigama for friendly games, thereby not only building and engendering goodwill and friendship ties but also presenting a variety of opponents for Seenigama’s cricketers to challenge.
Seenigama Oval hosts friendly against
u-15 team from Forrest School, UK
The host team was all smiles while the visitors didn’t have much luck on the day. Their losing streak started with the toss and ended with them conceding victory to the Seenigama boys.
“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”
2008.05.12 |
