I want to become a basketball coach

Angu Rajendran

She’s gentle, she’s soft-spoken, she’s as fast as a bullet and she’s the Most Valuable Player in the champion St Joseph’s Girls team that recently beat St Lawrence’s in the Under 19 A division finals.

How is it that you are better than most of the boys also?

It’ s many years of disciplined hard work, Sanduni smiles. I often play with the boys when they come for national team practices. So I know how to tackle them, she says, so it is very easy when I have to play against the girls.

Her drive in Under-the-basket shots are proof positive that in Sri Lanka, girls basketball is moving forward in leaps and bounds. Even the boys who have come for the Junior National team selections, look up to her. Sanduni ! She is that fantastic player, they say.

For how many years have you been playing basketball?

I have been playing for six years now. I started playing when I was twelve. I was very tall at that time for my age and also very fast. I represented my school in the 100 metres 400m and 1500m.

What brought you to the basketball court?

My friends were quick to persuade me to use my height advantage at that time and to come for basketball practices.

Ajit Kuruppu the legendary coach at St Joseph’s quickly realised Sanduni’s potential and trained her as the team’s ball handler. Do you like offense or defense better and why? In my very first tournament, I was adjudged the Best Defensive Player. I love defence. Even now I always like to guard the best player of the opposition team. Against St Lawrence I was guarding Natasha Perera. They depended a lot on her and I was happy to stop her from making as many baskets as they wished she could have.

What about offensive play?

All teams and all players are good at shooting. It is only with defense that you can show your superiority, says Sanduni. Even then, we maintain a log book for shooting. Each of us has to shoot everyday and our coaches Ajit and Selva, check our log books to see how many attempts and how many baskets. If we have not improved overtime, they help us to change and correct our techniques and there is immediate improvement, she says.

What kind of food do you eat during matches and practices?

I love rice and curry and our coach advises us to drink plenty of water and to remain hydrated at least one month before a tournament when we start daily practices.

Sanduni is also the Head Girl of St Joseph’s. It is all the training that I get from basketball practices, she says. Apparently after practices, the girls water the plants in the school and tidy up the school and then only go home around almost 9pm.

In one way the watering of the plants is very relaxing. In another way we realize that we are doing something good for the school.

All our team players are prefects, she is quick to add. Basketball at St Joseph’s is the centre of the school’s activities and Sanduni is the newest star. She is a Youth team player and in the National pool. She looks up to her seniors as she hopes her juniors will look up to her one day.

She is already involved in helping the junior players. “I really enjoy helping the juniors. When I leave school I want to come back as a junior basketball coach,” she says wishfully.

Basketball is all about team and friendships. I can never stop playing. One day I wish I can captain Sri Lanka and get an award as MVP in an Asian Championship, she says.

Despite all the laurels heaped on her, Sanduni remains humble and works hard at everything she does. She will soon realize her dreams and make Sri Lanka proud.