Politics, grudges have been set aside to develop netball
Followed by many controversies leading up to the elections of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL), its Vice President Yamuna Sandamali divulged that differences have been put aside and things are falling into place for the sake of development of the game.Sandamali, a veteran of netball for over four decades as a player, coach and administrator, revealed that internal politics and grudges among officials and coaches was cited as the biggest curse for the development of netball in Sri Lanka.
Yamuna Sandamali
“This was the main cause why Sri Lanka lost to Singapore in the Asian Netball Championships last year. Officials may have their own problems but it’s not fair to let the players suffocate for their attitudes or egos. They should have been more sensible in handling the situations,” Sandamali revealed.
But according to the official who also acts as the spokesperson of NFSL, its newly elected President, Lakshmi Victoria has made it a point to nip such drawbacks at the bud, starting off with their very own set of office bearers.
“The present team of officials at NFSL has diverse viewpoints. But when it comes to serve a national sports governing body, as individuals we may have to let go those aside. After taking all past happenings into account the President of our Federation has taken some commendable steps for the betterment of netball’s future,” Sandamali added while snubbing off the claims that calls them political appointees.
“I was an independent candidate and others who were elected too got their votes in numbers. It’s natural to reason out different aspects after a defeat. But during this short period we have already proved, despite differences that we have the ability to bind as a team if we work genuinely towards our goals.”
At a press conference held recently to announce the future plans of NFSL, its officials headed by Victoria stressed that they are eager to see netball prosper at a gradual pace. According to Sandamali their mission is to emerge victorious at the 2014 Asian Championship and the 2015 Youth Championship.
With that aim intact the NFSL have already began their campaign domestically, by conducting a talent search to pick potential players
Netballers at practice - Pix by Athula Devapriya
and by adding more competitions to the local calendar. Through these ways and means the NFSL aims to strengthen national squads of different age categories and introduce a development squad for the first time in netball’s history.
“We have a period of two years to perform as officials, to do all what we plan about. Actually this is a very good move taken by the Ministry of Sports, to allow a team of officials to run the show for two years. With that in mind we can look forward for more productive results in the future.”
“We have short, mid and long term plans based on top two international tournaments which is set to take place in a couple of years. But if the youngsters are correctly nurtured we will have quite good sides to compete at international level. To achieve those goals we are conducting a talent search based on district level in addition to including two tournaments. Through these progammes we hope to pick players for the national squads, and those who lose the opportunity of reaching the national squads will be drafted into our development squads. These development squads will consist of ten players each and they will be based on district level, where they will come under the scrutiny of our development coaches,” Sandamali explained.
Sandamali was of the view that the NFSL’s 35 district associations are quite active after their takeover. With the new development plan the main governing body had made it a point by requesting a coach and an umpire in addition to the explored talents. Those who are picked through this programme will meet at a tournament where the winning team is proposed to be trained overseas, which is one of the plans of NFSL chief Victoria, who was also elected the head of the Asian Netball Federation recently.
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