With the Netball world Cup looming in the horizon, ThePapare.com sat down to speak to newly appointed coach Deepthi Alwis at the final trials for the World Cup conducted in the Sugathadasa Stadium on the 27th of May.
Deepthi Alwis is no stranger to Sri Lanka netball. She has represented Sri Lanka as a player between 1985 and 1996 and captained the team in 1995 and 1996. When she first represented Sri Lanka as a player, she was the baby of the team and was only put on court owing to an injury to another senior player. She did not look back since then. She participated in three world cups – 1986 (Scotland), 1991 (Melbourne) and 1995 (Birmingham), and also took part in 3 Asian Championships – 1990, 1993, and 1997, of which Sri Lanka were crowned champions twice.
As a coach, she has extensive experience too. She was the head coach of the team that won the Bahrain Championships in 2000 and was also the assistant coach of the Sri Lanka Team which won the Asian Junior Championship in 2004 and 2006. She was appointed as National Coach as recently as last year, for the Asian Championships in Singapore, but was unable to make the tour. With just over 2 months to go for the world cup, she will need to draw on all her experience to help the team do well.
“The squad is not very different from the pool I had last year, some of the players are still there, but there are also some new players because some older players have not participated in the trials. It is a challenge. I can’t say losing senior players is not a loss. We had the tallest netball player; not having her is a loss. But even though it is a loss, we are trying to move forward with the resources we have got. We have to motivate the players we have now, encourage them and strengthen the mental aspects of their games too. I’m taking it on as a challenge to build their mental strength, game tactics and discipline.
At a world cup, the teams will be very good. We have been among the top 2 teams in Asia for a while now, having been runners up at the most recent Asian championships, but matches have always been close. Without being discouraged by this, our aim is to beat our Asian counterparts, beating Singapore is our aim. Along with that, at the world cup, we want to play the bigger teams and gain some experience but at the same time try to restrict them to an average score, this is our goal.”
Time is not on her side and Alwis has a very strict schedule to stick to if she is to bring the players up to pace, to face the world’s best teams.
“In terms of fitness, they hadn’t worked on it too much before I took over. But instead of being negative, I am determined that we must somehow get this done. If we focus extensively on fitness, then it will be tough to work on their skills. So I want to work on their skills, their team play, without pushing them too hard on their fitness. While working on the players timing and rhythm, we also plan to have the team participate in some matches. Usually, we would go on an exposure tour abroad in preparation for a tournament like the world cup, but there’s no time for that now. So we will prepare by playing some local clubs.”
After just over a week as coach, she has already begun to spot a few players who may have very bright futures in netball ahead of them “There is a young player here, in my head, I see her as a central part of the team. Not only her, there are a few players who I can see doing well. But definitely this one girl will do well in the centre court. I have never coached her before; she looks like a good prospect for the future. It is also my goal, if the older players are not suited to be in the starting line up, to put in youngsters and give them some exposure. It will be an investment in Sri Lanka Netball.
A lot of youngsters are in the squad. I think the oldest player is about 30 years old; everyone else is around 18/ 19 years old. There are also some experienced players like Gayani Dissanayake, Thisala Algama and Deepika Abeykoon too.”
“Before getting into this squad these players represented clubs like Army, Air force and Ports Authority. So they are players who are in touch with the game and training regularly. We must be thankful to the coaches of those clubs with whom these girls train. It is because of them that these players emerge. “
Alwis’ faith in the current administration is evident in the respect she has for SLNF President Yasa Ramachandra, “People like Yasa Ramachandra, our president, were there when I started off my career too. So it’s a somewhat historic occasion. With the experience of the administrators and the people in Sri Lanka netball, I’m confident that we can achieve something valuable. They are people who have really served Sri Lanka netball well. “
There have been many discussions as to whether it is worthwhile sending a team to the world championships, with such little preparation when compared to bigger teams, but Alwis is determined that we cannot let issues like that get in our way, if we are to maintain the legacy she helped build.
“In 1995, when I captained, we beat four teams including Scotland at the world championships in Birmingham and were able to bring Sri Lanka to 15th place in the world rankings. There is an opportunity to improve our ranking at the world cup if we perform well. But even if we don’t have a chance of winning, that is not an excuse to withdraw. A lot of people interpret this in different ways, saying it will cost a lot of money, it is a waste… etc, but if we used these things as excuses we would not have a history in netball. We would not be able to say that we beat a team like Scotland. We want to reach those standards again.”
