The Sri Lanka Rugby Football union has done a massive work load in 2012 to improve the level of coaching in the country through various coaching clinics and training sessions for up and coming coaches.
One coach who has come up from that particular system is C. W. W Kannangara coach Asela Nuwan. The 28 year old Nuwan, is a former player and captain of Kannangara who played for three years in the main side captaining in his final year in 2003.
He then had a brief stint in club rugby appearing for Petersons SC but eventually took up coaching his school team.
C. W. W Kannangara in its short history has produced many talented footballers who have gone on to represent the local clubs in the country. Kannangara started playing rugby in 1996 and due to poor administration and lack of facilities; they were not able to continue the game. In 2001 a set of players from the Byron JayathilakeSchoolcame across to Kannangara including skipper Dileepa Lahiru and resurrected the game which they saw a lot of potential in. That year though they didn’t have matches, they slowly progressed under the watchful eyes of Ajith Fernando (Currently in the SLRFU administration and a well known coach).
Asela took upon the sport just as a past time at first but soon found it to be more than just a game as he progressed along. “I was attached to the game instantly because of the nature of the sport, it’s very addictive”, said the Kannangara coach when asked what prompted him to take up the sport.
“We didn’t have many resources back then; however we played with a lot of heart which separated us from a lot of teams. The highlight of my schools career was the game against Trinity College who were then playing in the B division that year. They were at their peak and trashing almost every school around 100 points. We knew we couldn’t win against them but, we made it a point to keep the scoring under 50 and we managed to keep them at 42-0 which was a tremendous achievement considering the level of rugby between the two schools”.
“After leaving school I was given the basic knowledge about coaching from Ajith Fernando. He was the one who introduced me to the sport! However I have the utmost respect for SanathMartis who I has been my role model from my playing days. His coaching style is unique and more importantly he has a sound knowledge about the game. Even now I’m constantly in touch with him asking him for advice. My international role model, is the 2007 world cup winning English coach Clive Woodward. The way he went about creating that team was just amazing”.
ThePapare asked Asela about his coaching style and his expectations as a coach and he replied, “The main drive for me is to see a complete player, therefore I strive to get the best out of everyone. I try and teach them new things but mainly focus on the basics”.
Sri Lanka rugby as a whole has been in the incline during the last couple of years and we asked him what his thoughts are as a coach about the standard of rugby, “It’s definitely better than what it was a couple of years ago. There seems to be a lot of uniformity both amongst the players and administrators. Everyone is working towards a common goal which is fantastic to see. We have a great chance of making an impact in the international arena through sevens rugby, and we must improve on it. Professional players are the way to go if we’re to improve our standard of rugby. We have everything else in terms of skills, speed and endurance, but we need full time players”.
When asked about his future plans as a coach he said, “My main target this year would be to send Kannangara to the ‘A’ division. We have very little resources as a school but we have some skilled players who can achieve that. And as any young coach in the country, I want to someday coach the Sri Lanka team in any format, sevens or fifteens”, ended Asela.
