Goal-hungry Thomian football star Mahith aims to turn pro
S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia schoolboy Mahith Perera’s hunger to score goals like his idol Lionel Messi, Barcelona and Argentina legend, attracted him to football. Now he has set his sights on turning professional in a sport which has become his passion although he is an equally good cricketer, rugby player and has College colours in athletics.
Nominated by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and selected to the AFC-Aurora eGoal programme for the South Asian zone together with Maleeka Amith of Gateway College, Colombo, Mahith hails from a family with a sporting pedigree. His father Mahesh Perera captained S. Thomas’ in football while his elder brother Sakith is scrum half of the Thomian first XV rugby team.
"I got inspired after watching the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In my first year, I got into the Under-13 ‘A’ team and performed really well and scored goals in all the matches," said Mahith who plays as a striker.
"I just loved to play football," said Mahith who leads from the front and showed leadership skills early in his career, captaining S. Thomas’ football team in all age groups from Under-13 to 18.
In fact, he has captained S. Thomas’ Under-15 team in football, rugby and cricket. He gained athletics colours being a member of the Thomian 4x400 metre relay team and coming fourth in the 800m in the All-Island School Games.
A precociously talented sportsman, Mahith was also selected to the Sri Lanka Under-15 development squad and played inter-district matches. A middle-order batsman and off-spinner, he has a highest score of 122 not out and scored 300 runs in the first round of the Under-16 tournament last year.
"Then I got selected to the national (Under-16) football team and could not continue," said Mahith, who represented the Sri Lanka Under-16 men’s team at the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) Championship held in India and also the AFC Under-16 World Cup qualifiers in Jordan last year.
"We won one match against Bhutan 3-2 at the SAFF Championship where I gave two assists," said Mahith proudly.
Finding the net is his main goal in football.
"I wanted to score goals. I got inspired by Lionel Messi. I wanted to be like him one day. I just want to make my family and my team proud," said 15-year-old Mahith, who can shoot with both feet having played as centre forward for his College and right wing for the national team.
Talking about the standard of football, he felt Sri Lankans lack power and physique to match other teams at international level.
"When we compete with other countries, I find they are really big physically and intimidating. We don't have power. We should work out at the gym. Even at Under-15 level, we never had gym sessions. It was just practice and fitness. We were not strong enough to compete with them. Other than that, we were on top. We know how to manage the game situation. Main problem is we have disadvantage when we compete against opposition who are big and we get overawed," said Mahith, whose strength is to shoot from outside the box.
"I have speed and shooting power. But most of our players are not strong. They don't have power to shoot from long range. They don't take shots from outside the box," observed Mahith, who enjoys playing football and relishes scoring goals.
"My plan in any sport is to play professionally. I like to play football more because it’s fun to play unlike other sports. Football is a simple game. But I manage all three sports," said Mahith whose academic goal is to become a businessman or lawyer.
"It is a very good opportunity for me to learn more things about football and getting the correct information about football. It is a proud moment for me and the College," said Mahith on being selected for the eGoal programme organised by the AFC's Dream Asia Foundation, in partnership with Aurora - a youth development organisation based in Jordan, specialised in creating and implementing community service programmes for youth aged 16 -17.
The first-of-its-kind programme in world football brings together guest speakers from reputable social development organisations to deliver workshops on important topics such as Sport for Development and Peace, Sustainable Development Goals, Philanthropy in Football, Diversity and Inclusion, Safeguarding and Child Protection, Civic Engagement and Ethical Volunteering.