Team-spirit key to Gateway’s success
Angu Rajendran
‘Exuberance’ is the word that comes to mind when you meet Pasini
Withanage – Most Valuable Player of the Under 15 International Schools
Girls’ basketball championships.
Laughter spills out of her as she explains how much she loves the
camaraderie and team spirit that is inherent in a good basketball team
which is the reason for Gateway’s success. ‘All my team-mates are my
sisters’ says Pasini, a year 11 student of Gateway College, ‘and our
coach Tharindu Sir is our Guru.’
Pasini Withanage about to shoot. Picture by Angu Rajendran |
At just 14 years, Pasini who has been playing basketball for all of
the last three years, handpicked for the team by Gateway’s coach
Tharindu was initially a valuable member of the school’s netball team
and has won the Best Defensive Player award several times at the
International School’s Netball Championships.
‘I really did not expect to get the Most Valuable Player award at the
Under 15 tournament. I played well of course but there are so many
senior players in my team.‘
Pasini who has made the smooth transition from netball to basketball
says ‘I love to play defense and I never bothered about offense even
after I started training for the basketball team.
I just stopped the other team from making baskets and let the others
in the team shoot and get all the glory but this year coach made me
practice my offense nonstop.
I had to take, just as all the others in the team, at least two
hundred under-the-basket shots every single practice session which is
almost every day of the week during season.’ (Basketball season spans
from August to November).
The Gateway girls, well-known for their aggressive defense and very
hard play during matches do not display such aggressive personalities
off-court. They are full of fun and laughter and giggles like most young
teenage girls.
It is evident that Pasini enjoys basketball. ‘I love everything about
basketball. Even when the coach scolds us I like it because it only
makes us better. We are a winning team and he scolds us whenever we
forget that.
‘I used to think contributing to the team by defending the basket and
stopping the other team from shooting was enough but now whenever I
shoot I feel very good. I am doubly contributing to the team’s win. But
defence will always be my first love where basketball is concerned,’
says Pasini. Coach Tharindu has won half the battle as most basketball
players will selfishly shoot and leave the defence to others unlike
Pasini.
Pasini takes everything in her stride and finds that life is full of
fun and playing basketball only adds to it. She is a straight As student
taking the Commerce stream and has even got a double promotion last
year.
All my team-mates are very supportive. We always sing in the bus when
we come for practices. Singing makes me hyper and we all end up playing
a very aggressive game.
And like all teenage girls Pasini wants to be a fashion designer. “If
I get any opportunities to play for the school girls team or Youth
national team I will welcome it with open arms but I will not kill to
get there.
‘Basketball is for fun. Basketball is for the team. Basketball is for
friendship. All my team-mates are my sisters and why not we will win all
the tournaments we play.
We get enough support from our school and our parents and we owe
everything to our coach Tharindu who has 100 percent commitment to our
team. We are a winning team because we practice very hard or at least
our coach makes us practice very hard.’
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