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From India with love
Indian coache’s quest for tennis in Sri Lanka
By M. Shamil Amit
Tennis was one sport that Sri Lanka engaged the concept of hiring a foreign coach. But sad to say the authorities concerned, though bringing down a well qualified coach in Arul Amalnathan from India they failed to take the maximum from him or we could say were not bothered to extend his contract of two years which they agreed when he took over. Arul is one of the top six tennis coaches in India.

To say the least 38 year old Arul Amalnathan regrets the stance taken by the authorities. Speaking to The Sunday Times he says "I came with one vision-- that is to give of my best and to take Sri Lanka to the top in tennis", but unfortunately he said "I could not fulfil my ambitions".

"A coach should be given some time to produce results, any coach cannot do wonders in a short period of two years. Anyway they know better that's why they did not want my services". But today Arul though being an Indian has become an household name in tennis. He conducts his own tennis academy named the Amalnathan Tennis School just 11 kilometres away from Colombo in Mt Lavinia for students from the age of five to 17 years. "It was on the request of some parents that I started this academy". He started it with only two kids but now it has over 200 children coming from all over the country. In fact the main idea was to polish these two kids who had potential and they proved it by winning many medals and trophies last year.

They say top players don't end up as top coaches and you don't have to be a top player to become a top coach. Arul belongs to the second category, as a player Arul had nothing much to speak about but in the coaching sphere he has made vast strides with sheer dedication and determination. Having had his early education at St Patrick's College, Madras, he was an all round sportsman representing the school at soccer, hockey, basketball and athletics. He proudly says the schools triple jump record he established two decades ago still stands to date.

It was after leaving school that Arul took to tennis seriously and he himself did not know that his potential until he underwent a coaching stint with India's former top player Suresh Menon and then under Spain's Migel Crespo. He qualified and obtained the Level 1 and 2. "It was after this that I asked my two mentors whether I could go to USA for a coaching stint but they advised me it will be a one in a thousand chance if I go over to USA and wanted me to stick to the Asian region". He does not regret for having taken that decision.

The ambition of opening a tennis academy of his own was in his mind ten years ago, while undergoing a coaching stint with his gurus Menon and Crespo. But he never thought it will be in Sri Lanka. Apart from his own tennis academy at Mt. Lavinia he conducts coaching classes also at CR and FC in Longden Place.

He said he wouldn't have been able to achieve his ambitions if not for the support he received from the Warden of S. Thomas' College Mt Lavinia David Ponniah who presented him with a piece of land to put up the courts and the financial support coming from Shiran Dissanayake, chairman of ABC Group of Companies and Arul is ever grateful to these individuals.

The training centre in Mt Lavinia has seven courts and it’s a hive of activity throughout the week. It also has a floodlight system which is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka. He said every player is treated equally, no special preference for anybody so there is a friendly atmosphere among his students.

To support him he has a few assistants like former national champion Shobini de Silva, Claude Sanjeewa, P. Jayakanth, T. Pahirathan, Vijayakanth and Dominic Paul. The academy which began operation in October 2003 has made vast strides and within this short period he has produced potential champions of the future.

It was a successful one for him last year as he produced players who could be future champions. Most of the players are ranked number one in the different age categories. The top ranked players of Sri Lanka in the Under 10 boys and girl's category Shamal Dissanayake and Yasodara Karunaratne (his first two students) he says are two future prospects. Both are the reigning national champions.

The other players ranked number one from his academy are Rukmal Cooray who is the Under 16 boys national champion and semi finalist in the Under 18 category. Thavindra Ekanayake Girls Under 16, Under 18 number two and Women's. Thiyumi Abeysinghe Under 16 number two. Sanka Athukorale ranked number one in the Boys Under 18.

Last month he took six of his students to Bangalore, India for advanced training and he has plans to take a mixture of Sri Lanka and Indian players to Spain in September which will be of dual purpose (matches and training). Arul says he is forced to curtail taking any more players to his academy, as he will find difficult to concentrate. But he will be taking beginners and intermediate players where his assistants will be in charge.

He said I don't look forward in making money from this, there are some boys who are being given free training, they are talented and deserves this bit. If I want to make money I could have stayed back in Chennai where I began my coaching career in 1989 with the Triangular Tennis Trust and was one of the talent scouts cum coach with the Tamilnadu Academy for Tennis.

He had made plans to open two more tennis schools in Galle and Kandy. He has had discussions with Richmond College but due to the Tsunami disaster he had to change the plan. It seems that Arul will make Sri Lanka his home as he is now married to a Sri Lankan girl Nilmini Fernando. His main aim now is to develop tennis in Sri Lanka, as there is talent in Sri Lanka.

Here is a man with plenty of coaching experience who could have stayed back in his country or gone to the gulf states, instead came to Sri Lanka and decided to stay back and develop tennis in this tiny island. The achievements of Arul Amalnathan's Tennis School in a short span of time speaks volumes of his ambition.

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