Gayanjali Amarawansa: Driving force through the centre court
View(s):This is the fourth article in our series profiling the National Netball Team as they prepare for the World Netball Championship in England in July 2019. This week we feature Gayanjali Amarawansa, who is the driving force through the centre court
Gaya in action
Approaching her netball at maximum speed, and as a relative youngster in the team, Gayanjali is determined to ensure a bright future for Sri Lankan netball. She is just 24 years old, holds down the Centre Position, and has already played 32 matches for the National Team.
Along with several of her teammates, she is from Kandy and played several sports in school, including athletics and gymnastics. Her path into netball was paved by her older sister who played, whilst a young Gaya, who was in grade 3, would watch on until one day she was asked to join in – so she took off her school tie and started playing with the bigger girls! She continued doing this until well into grade 3 when the older girls suggested she actually bring a change of clothes and start playing properly. From there she has not looked back. She has a great amount of netball experience, including going back to captaining teams from the under 12s and the under 14s in the all island competitions. During the U14s, she won the best player award, but she immediately says she would “trade that for the championship” as her team had played extremely well and had placed a very close runners-up.
She has been tested through her career, particularly in early 2013, when she contracted dengue in the middle of her first national selection, was hospitalised, and missed out of qualification for the team. She watched the selections wanting to take part, but the doctors were cautious and she did not have the medical clearance. She says quietly “that was a tough time.” It seems, though, that Gaya excels at making tough times into lessons to learn from and by December 2013, Gaya was selected for the Nations Cup Senior tournament. This was her debut in the senior team (and by then she was also fully recovered from dengue). When asked about how she felt upon making the senior squad, Gaya explained that “at that time they would announce the squad in the newspaper. We were at Torrington Grounds and the chef from the Sports Hostel told us the team was announced. I checked the newspaper on the web on a mobile phone, and I saw my name! There were so many feelings all at once: Happiness, relief, responsibility – there were a lot of senior players in the team, and then there was my name. It was quite incredible.”
Throughout her career, which has involved some very high honours from a young age, Gaya has remained very grounded and focused on excelling at netball. In 2015, on her 20th birthday, she was awarded the best Wing Attack title at the Asian Youth Netball Championship where Sri Lanka was crowned the champions. She credits her coach from school, Ms. Swini de Alwis, who had been a national cricketer, with “providing me with a grounding on the importance of teamwork, respect, and learning from the seniors.”
Combining her athletic skills with her work at HNB has provided her with a keen ability to strategically approach and solve problems from a positive mental perspective. She is also grateful to her parents: “my mother who has watched every one of my games, along with my father who also supported me, and I wouldn’t be who I am without them.”
The National Netball Squad today has a “common path, a strong fitness base, a shared vision, and discipline.” The preparations for the Netball World Championship are in full force and the team are focused on delivering their best performance together. Gaya says that “the team bonds are important, the training is hard and tough, but we support each other, and improve together.” Gaya’s favourite drills are the attacking ones, and matching up against the best defenders in Sri Lanka inspires her to keep improving. She also adds that the big games need strong mental preparation and the mental side is just as important as the physical side. The additional focus on mental preparation was evident during the Asian Championship, with the Sri Lankan team winning the final by 19 goals against Singapore, who are a very good team.
Gaya recognises the benefits that balancing both sport and studies brings, including “respect, perseverance, discipline, problem solving, mental strength, and teamwork”, and would like to encourage children to do both. Gaya’s ability to balance sport with her work at HNB, is testament to her skills and determination. Her final message to young sporting enthusiasts: “Be simple, work hard and commit and get the most out of yourself.”