AN ATHLETE CANNOT BE A TOP LEVEL COACH SAYS YOGANANDA WIJESUNDERA
Yogananda Wijesundara is a senior athletics coach in Sri Lanka who held higher positions in athletics.
“Save the Sports” association will hold a Felicitation ceremony to praise the services done by him on January 17 at 10.00 am in the Auditorium of National Olympic committee,
Yogananda is a veteran volleyball player and athlete who hit the hot sports at school level. He is an old boy of Ehliyagoda Central College. He was an outstanding volleyball player and then later on switched to athletics. His pe events in athletics was 110 yards hurdles. According to his performance in hurdles he was selected as the Bandarawela Sports Officer in 1967.
He became famous as an athletics coach. Due to the performances in the field of athletics he received a scholarship at the DHFM University in Germany where he obtained a Diploma in Athletics Training.
In 1982 he followed a Post Graduate Course in the same university where he obtained a First Class Degree. He got the opportunity to the PHD but he did not get
The athletics coaches of today have no coaching theory and practical knowledge. Most of the coaches copy from the Internet to do their coaching. This will ultimately lead to destroy sport. Today’s sport is based on money. Because of this most coaches encourage athletes to take drugs. This is actually a short term method to hit the high spots
the permission from Sri Lanka to sit for it.
Sri Lanka has produced top level athletics coaches such as K.L.F. Wijedasa, the late Lakshman de Alwis. The late Brigadier Parry Liyanage, the late Dervin Perera and S.M.G. Bandara and now Yogananda Wijesundera has joined these top level coaches, although he has retired.
He is the first director of the Institute of Sports Science (now retired). Theinstitute of Sports Science has produced a large number of Sports Diploma holders.
He was also a national athletics coach. Six of the athletes that he has coached has gone on to represent Sri Lanka at the Olympics. They are: Thilaka Jinadasa, Sriyani Kulawansa, Dhammika Menike,jayamini Illeperuma, Pradeepa Herath and the late K.A. Karunaratne.
During his training he has produced top level record holders from 100 M to 1500M. They are: Thilaka Jinadasa (100 M hurdles), Dilima Peterson (Long Jump). Dhammika Menike (800 M).jayamini Illeperuma (100 M,200 M, 400 M and 800 . Ravindra Kumara Fernando (400 M), Manjula Rajakaruna (110 M Hurdles), Pathmakumara Amarasekera (400 M) and the late K.A. Karunaratne (10,000 M and Marathon).
No other athletics coach has produced athletes of this nature.
He is 75 years at present, but to date he has not had a felicitation of the national level. The Save the Sports Association is he first to hold a felicitation ceremony of this nature on January 17.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror Yogananda Wijesundera says that those who have set up a National Record or whether he has represented at an international competition cannot be a top level coach.
“The athletics coaches of today have no coaching theory and practical knowledge. Most of the coaches copy from the Internet to do their coaching. This will ultimately lead to destroy sport. Today’s sport is based on money. Because of this most coaches encourage athletes to take drugs. This is actually a short term method to hit the high spots.”
Yogananda is a lecturer in sports. He is not a person who went after positions or foreign tours. He has produced six Olympians and several national level athletes but he not gone to a single Olympic Games as a coach.
1984, he was the athletics coach at the first South Asian Games (SAFG) in Nepal but at the last moment he was removed as the coach and Brig. Parry Liyanage was appointed as the coach. Yogananda did not oppose the decision.
“The Sports Ministry and the Athletics Association did a lot of injustice to me. However I did not include athletes in this venture and I got to a side. Today’s coaches, however, do exactly the opposite.
“The performances shown at trials are usually not displayed at international competitions. The reason for this is drugs. This has gone to the school level as well”, concluded, Yogananda Wijesundera.
Currently Yogananda is in retirement.