Deepika Abeykoon:Inspiring future netballers
She is from Anuradhapura, has a story or two to tell, and first debuted for the National Netball Team in 2011. She has played in both defence and the centre-court during her 35 games with the team.
Deepi’s attitude was succinctly demonstrated when she said: “If you like something just do it – living is trying everything.” During our interview, through regaling stories of her career, she demonstrated not only her love for netball, but also her positive mindset that drives her to try everything. Indeed, her try-outs for school level national team, then later the senior national team were full of learning experiences.As she progressed through the selection process for the national team, she had to convince her family that going to Colombo for interviews for netball was a beneficial career choice that they could support.
Clearing these hurdles, she first made the national senior team in 2011, and then again in 2012. In both teams she was a junior player, particularly in 2012 when the Asian Netball Championships were held in Colombo, so and many very experienced netballers were available for selection. Her 2011 experience however, had stood her in good stead and, along with a number of familiar faces from the team today, she says “I benefited from those matches and that training experience, and was able to apply what I learnt in 2011 to the selection process in 2012,” she says adding that thereby ensuring she was selected to the team.
Deepi has grown from being a humble and shy netballer – when asked about her favourite memories as a school-girl netballer, she fondly launches into a story about the Milo All Island Netball Competition held in Galle where she saw a famous actress who came and spoke to the players… but “I was too shy to talk to her” – to an inspiring elite netballer who today enjoys returning to her own school as Guest of Honour “and if I can, help to inspire future generations”.
She has trained and improved mentally and physically and worked her way from being one of the junior players who had to “wake up early and prepare the sports drinks for the team”; to experiencing intensive training camps in Perth, Australia; to learning to positively manage nervous energy before a big match; to learning to focus on what she can control: “Myself, and my game – not the opponent”.
She missed the 2018 Asian Championships due to family commitments however she is back in the team in 2019, and is extremely excited about the upcoming World Cup. The recently concluded matches against Botswana provided a “great opportunity to work on our game under different conditions – it was cold, the outdoor courts were floodlit, and they play a different style of netball: This was perfect preparation for us.” Her favourite training sessions involve strength work and, along with her teammates, she is putting her heart and soul into the final stage of preparations.
She has been grateful for the opportunities netball has provided her, and she is equally grateful for the support her family have also provided. Her refreshing telling of how intimidating higher-level sports selections can be, combined with her positive can-do attitude demonstrated by pushing herself to be her best at each stage, and her ultimate national level selection, leaves you with no option but to sit back and enjoy watching her play at the upcoming World Cup.