Thrice blessed Trinity lions roar for more
The year 2012 will forever stand in the history of Trinity College, Kandy as a period defined by one single and undeniable word – ‘dominant’. For that is the only word that does justice to a school season which has seen the mighty Lions corral every major prize available in under 20 rugby, under 19 cricket and under 19 weightlifting.
As the members of each of these three different teams huddle together on an overcast morning for a group photograph, the camaraderie and pride present is almost palpable. “We are like one family at Trinity. When our cricket team plays we go and support them, and they come and support us when we play. It’s the same with the weightlifting team,” Trinity rugby skipper Kaneel Senevirathne says.
Only a week before, Kaneel was engulfed in a wave of euphoria, as he triumphantly held the Bradby shield aloft at a Pallekele ground that reverberated with the cheers of a capacity crowd.
As he leans against the pillars of the school’s spectacular chapel, he reveals that none of the joy, borne of that victory as well as a stellar school season where Trinity claimed the league championship, has left him.
“I think it is a great achievement to win them (League title and Bradby) both. This was a very special team, our pack and line were both very good. We played as a team; we didn’t have any individual stars,” he explains.
The victorious Trinity rugby captain also has another reason to celebrate as he was an integral component of the school’s weightlifting team, which conquered all opposition at the Junior National Weightlifting Championships, sweeping the under 17 and under 19 age groups. Apart from Kaneel himself, who produced an outstanding display in the 77kg weight class and set a new record in the clean and jerk, the other lifters who excelled were Lochana Girihagama and Sachika Liyanarachchi.
Competing in the 69 kg weight class of the under 17 age group, Girihagama executed a technically-flawless lift in the clean
Whatever the factors governing the school’s sporting success this year, one fact is irrefutable: this current crop of Trinity sportsmen will be ranked and remembered among the sporting greats who have walked the school’s hallowed halls.
and jerk to also register a Junior National record. However, Trinity College was not done with their record shattering, and Liyanarachchi snapped another longstanding one in the clean and jerk of the under 19 62 kg division.
The Trinity rugger captain’s counterpart on the cricket team, Niroshan Dickwella, has also been anchored on cloud nine during the recent past, after leading his side to an astounding trifecta of the two-day league, limited overs and T20 championships.
Currently in Colombo where he is hard at work in preparation for the upcoming under 19 world cup, the Trinity Cricket Lion said that it was an absolute honour to have taken to the field with such a talented and united bunch.
“I am really happy to be captain of a team like that. When we started the season, we had a set plan and throughout the season my teammates did really well. We had some ups and down in our performances sometimes but we did very well to come back.
“As a captain I looked to lift them (the team) up because this was the last year that some of the main players would be playing, so I really tried to raise their morale,” Niroshan says.
The devastating wicketkeeper/batsman, who amassed over 1000 runs this season, went on to praise the depth and skill of his Trinity team, which did not know when it was beaten.
“In the match against Royal at Asgiriya, they scored 230 odd (237) and we knew we had to play well in the first innings to get a result. After we lost a lot of wickets, Amrith Srimahan and Lakshitha Dassanayake batted very well to get us a good total. That is one of the differences with our team: everyone on the team is a good batsman,” he explains.
Besides being led by two intensely competitive and incredibly talented players, the highly-skilled Trinity College rugby and cricket teams are also blessed with two greatly knowledgeable and dedicated coaches.
The very affable veteran cricket coach Sampath Perera immediately gushes with pride when asked to describe how satisfied he is with the way his boys steamrolled past every other school that stood in their way this season.
“This is a very rare thing for anyone and I am very happy we did it because it is not an easy thing to win the league, T20 and limited overs championships. They are all different and so players have to adjust very fast. So it is a very great achievement for Trinity,” he says.
The team also added the ideal exclamation point to their campaign when they beat traditional rivals St. Anthony’s College, Kandy in their big match, snapping a 25-year spell without a Trinitian victory at the fixture.
Coach Nilufer Ibrahim knows all too well about the significance of school rivalries. He moulded and motivated the Trinity College team that inflicted a two leg dismantling of Royal College during this year’s Bradby. On this particular day, as on most others, Nilufer is engaged in deep conversation with a group of students from the rugby team, gesturing animatedly before intermittently bursting into fits of laughter.
It is abundantly clear to even the least observant that the coach enjoys a close and genuine rapport with each of his play- ers. However, he stresses that this season too did pose its share of obstacles. “This was my first year working with a foreign consultant coach (Neil Footy). At the start of the season the skills of the boys were not perfect but as we trained we got better,” Nilufer revealed.
Nevertheless, the coach said that all of his charges were brimming with enthusiasm, and that this quality, when combined with a very supportive administration and network of Old Boys, made his task much less tedious.
“Whenever we asked for anything, they would give it to us the next day,” he says before expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the Dubai and Nuwara Eliya OBAs, who offered outstanding support, the past pupils of the 1993, 2002 and 2003 Trinity College batches as well as all the Scrummage members and college staff.
Both Sampath and Nilufer concede that their teams only truly discovered their fighting spirits during certain crucial moments, when they were confronted by adversity and the prospect of a humiliating descent into the abyss of defeat.
For Trinity’s cricketers, Sampath says, one of these instances arrived at the finals of the Limited Overs Championship, against Dharmasoka College. After losing the toss and having to chase down a target of 150, Trinity collapsed to 30 for 5. Yet somehow they managed to dig themselves out of that rut and pull off an improbable victory, finishing with a score of 150 for 6.
According to Nilufer, the best thing that happened to the Trinity College rugby team this season was their loss to St. Pe- ter’s College. The subsequent introspection, he says, led to the team re-evaluating its performance and potential.
“We had our worst game against Peter’s. We did not play well in that game. But after that, in the game against Isipathana, the team got the belief that they can go and win the league championship.”
This self-belief, which every Trinitian sports team possesses, is due to the virtue of discipline imparted by the school, Trinity College’s Principal, Brigadier Udaya Ariyaratne says.
“If discipline is there, everything else will fall into place. It is also important to recognize the dedication and commitment shown by all the students, parents, Old Boys, teachers and especially masters in charge and coaches. They all worked as a team, there were no differences, there was no animosity between anyone and each coach had a plan for the year,” he expressed.
Whatever the factors governing the school’s sporting success this year, one fact is irrefutable: this current crop of Trinity sportsmen will be ranked and remembered among the sporting greats who have walked the school’s hallowed halls.