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.’

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.’