During their 57 years of existence Mahanama College, Colombo has progressed to become a prominent institution in the country with a well balanced programme for studies and extra curricular activities. The boys’ school which was established in 1954 on a land that spreads across nearly five acres off Duplication Road in Colpetty has over 4200 students pursuing academic progress whilst engaging in many other activities that would help their lives as youths.

Mahanama has over 20 active sports under their list of extra activities and over 15 dynamic associations which vary at different fields. However out of the 20 different sports cricket, rugby and basketball are the most popular among the students. Out of the three cricket has the most following.

Buddhi Samaraweera (English coordinator)

Lesley Harischandra (Cricket M-I-C)

MNW de Silva (Chess T-I-C)

MPS Gunathilleke (Deputy Principal)

Muditha Harshani (Athletics T-I-C)

“At present it has come to a point that the teachers discourage young students from taking up cricket which needs no special promotion. Almost everyone here at Mahanama wants to become a cricketer and other sports suffer because of that fact. Teachers have to do specialized promotions to encourage students to take up sports like rugby, basketball and athletics. Apart from cricket Mahanama has reached the top level at around seven different sports. This shows that we have the resources though they we attracted to just one famous sport which everyone wants to play,” explained MPS Gunathilleke, the deputy principal of the school.

Though Mahanama is yet to produce a national cricketer from their lair sportsmen of the school have proved that they are a capable force after being tracked into the correct path. Unlike many other popular schools in and around Colombo, Mahanama has just begun producing cricketers to the national stream. Danushka Gunathilake who represented Sri Lanka in the Youth Cricket World Cup in 2010 becomes the first cricketer or sportsman to earn the honour of making the school’s name proud. Apart from famous outdoor sports chess and carom are leading sports to have brought Mahanama much of the honours during the recent years.

“We have really bright students at all age groups into chess. The youngsters between the ages of seven and 13 are the most brilliant and they have won at almost every age group in the all island category. However it’s very hard to gather students for an indoor sport like chess. But once they come and learn the tricks of the sport they improve very fast,” said the teacher-in-charge MNW de Silva.

Athletics is another prominent field that has the potential of producing future stars. But it too faces the similar crisis. At present Mahanama has the strength of 60 active athletes in their pool. The teacher-in-charge of athletics Muditha Harshani emphasized on the difficulties the sportsmen go through to win medals for the school.

“We mainly focus on giving full training for the youngsters of under-11, 13 and 15 age groups but senior athletes who show potential come and undergo training with the squad. We always try to motivate them and our ambitions have always given us the perfect dividends. Mahanama has had promising athletes through such entrants and Tharaka Gunawardena who won the main high jump event at last year’s John Tarbat Meet was such a find,” she said.

Like cricket which has been the school’s main attraction throughout the recent decades, rugby and basketball have flourished to the top level. Mahanama rugby reached its helm by gaining promotion to the top division two seasons back while the basketball teams of all age groups have developed to win all island competitions in the recent years. Buddhi Samaraweera who acts as the English Coordinator at Mahanama is one of the most senior staff members with well over 18 years of service. He detailed on the developments Mahanama has gone through in sports.

“As one of the senior staff members I have seen Mahanama transforming into a dominant force in the school sports field. It’s a very good development from the college’s point of view but we still face so many setbacks as a leading school in Colombo. The interest of the parents is another great strength behind our success but there are a few areas where we have to streamline.”

Cricket has been Mahanama’s great asset. The school has won many accolades at different age groups and their 1st XI team has been playing in the top division for decades. According to the master-in-charge of cricket Lesley Harischandra, Mahanama has always been in the forefront in school cricket sans a proper hosting venue.

The school inaugurated a big match with DS Senanayake College, another institution with the likes of Mahanama and will host the encounter for the fifth consecutive year next week. Though so many developments and activities have been taking place at Mahanama the school still has not got the most important aspect it needs to enhance the talents of the sportsmen which is a ground. It has a gravelly ground at the main entrance which hardly fulfills the needs of their greater ambitions.

“We are doing really well at cricket, rugby and athletics but without a proper ground of our own. We host our cricket matches at the BOI ground in Katunayake as it’s the only venue that is affordable. Other venues in and around Colombo are costly. Our cricketers practice at the Thurstan College facility. Rugby is another sport that has been greatly hindered as well as athletics.

We even took up the matter to His Excellency the President and he has promised us with a facility. Out of 4200 students over 1500 are engaged in some sort of sport and a ground of our own will help us produce more promising sportsmen to the country. Sports, extra curricular activities and events like the big match have given the school the much needed publicity and boost and our hope is that it will develop from strength to strength in years to come,” the deputy principal added.