This time however, I did not sit anywhere near a goal (due to past experience)and sat way up in the stands with a box of banana’s, a banana peel and a bunch of bags to keep me company till the team finished their warm down exercises. The only possible way I could have gotten wet today was if a meteorite crashed into the pool and created a mighty splash.
It started raining heavily as I started to interview the team, and this was when I wondered whether I needed to be partially soaked for me to be able to successfully interview a water polo team. The rain ceased within minutes. Thank Goodness! And I got on with the interview!
Give us a very brief description about water polo for the benefit of those who may not know very much about the sport.
Darshana Kuruppu: Water Polo (WP) is a very strenuous sport which requires a lot of physical fitness. It is one of the few sports where you need everything from lower body, to core strength to upper body strength. It involves swimming, ball handling and a lot of things, so playing WP is very difficult, but can benefit a lot of people who don’t know much about WP because, like I said, it is one of the most strenuous sports.
Compared to most land based sports, water polo seems much more challenging as you will lose a certain degree of flexibility. How do you overcome this?
Shehan Dassanayake: We overcome this by continuous swimming practice where we practice our ball handling, and the goalies have to master tread water. And when we are attacking and defending, we have to mainly tread water but if we have to move around, it’s mainly by swimming.
Yahan Samarajeewa: Water Polo is like playing rugby in the water, because the people in the stands who are watching the game do not see what is happening under water. As a result it’s really tough to be in there and even the referees can’t see what may be happening under water. When it comes to rugby or football everyone can see all the rough playing, but what happens in water polo is that all rough play happens under water and makes it tougher.
Althaf Yakoob: Our training also points out our mistakes and helps us to correct these mistakes before the actual game.
If it’s ball handling, we will tackle that separately, and the same for treading and swimming. We do our fitness schedule separately, as well as our land based training. So we mainly divide it into several sections and practice it separately and put it all together for the matches.
Then it takes time to think about the game and form our game plans to make sure the team sticks together. So all three aspects are easily covered.
What inspired you’ll to play water polo, even with so many frontline sports like cricket, football around.
Shehan: It was mainly because I like the way the game is played and how it happens. I have been swimming from my smaller days, so WP has been a really catchy game for me.
Harshaka Nissanga: WP is mostly unique from many other sports and it is a combination of all the other sports. It is a contact sport and it also helps you to think.
Praneeth Saranajeeva: Because it is something totally different from all other sports
Sandeep Jayawardena: It’s definitely the unique team spirit here that inspires me to keep coming here every morning at the crack of dawn. And it’s one of the most fun filled sports and at the same time is demanding and challenging. That is what inspired me to join.
Sanchitha Wickremesooriya: Basically, it’s because I get a chance to play for school, and the team spirit is everything about the team.
Sandeepa Deheragoda: Its one of the best sports that you can do at Royal College and it is a big thing to play for the Hayman trophy and represent College.
Wasim Bawa: Same here. It is one of the most recognized sports in Royal College, and we are happy to play WP with this good team and play for the Hayman.
Musharraf Uwais: (Laughing) I like this sport because it is very interesting. (His team mates and coach add something, (which I actually know about) about one of his family members having another reason for him to play water Polo. He asks me to cut it, but I decided to hint it anyway!) This is very different from the other sport, he adds.
Amlar Azmy: Well, I joined because the sport itself and the way we play it is unique and not everyone can actually play the sport.
Chethana Munasinghe: The fact that it is one of the most recognized sports in college is why I joined. People always tell me what a great sport this is and that and our teams’ unique team spirit was the inspiration for me to actually join this sport.
(..) Actually there are a few. One is that I got fed up of swimming, but I wanted to still use my swimming skills for some activity so I joined WP. The other one was that I wanted to choose a sport in which I could thrash the Thomians. I was good in swimming so I chose Water Polo. I also had to repay my debts to college so I thought that WP was the ideal way to achieve all of this.
Shan Lakshitha: I started this sport because this was a unique sport. Plus there was a lot of unity and passion, so I was interested in WP.
Poorna Kankanige: I have participated in swimming and diving before, so when I was in the under 15 squads I was a good swimmer and I thought of joining water polo. It was so nice to be in a team, and this was special for me because I had never played any sport as part of a team before. Yahan told me and Sajeewa to join the team which was like one big family. Now we’ve been in this team for almost five-six years. So we are now more like a family and know that we are going to do, and what we are doing and what we have done! So I just love the sport, and I just want to thrash the Thomians.
Althaf Yakoob: Water Polo was my dream sport from those days and I’ve been swimming since a very young age. Water polo practices were also held during a similar time to swimming practices. My brother also played and captained the WP side and this also inspired me to take up the sport and it’s been so much of fun so far, and I’m really enjoying it!
Sajeewa Wickramasinghe: Actually my love for the sport could not make me stop it for any reason. So I just kept on playing and coming for practices everyday and I just keep on enjoying playing water polo.
Darshana: Actually water polo is a well looked out for sport in the eyes of most of our friends and schoolmates. It is one of the main events of the sporting calendar and is very popular even in school. So it’s usually the Big Match, then the Bradby and then the Hayman. So there is a lot of support from school and you will see that they had to change the venue to the Sugathadasa because of the huge crowd. So in that sense we have a lot of support from school and everybody thinks about the Hayman and wonders about what would happen.
How frequently do you train?
Yahan: Three sessions of water Polo, Three sessions of swimming in the morning, two sessions of gym as well as one session of tap rugby on Saturday morning.
Aloka: And we go overseas and train prior to the Hayman.
What makes a perfect water polo team?
The Coach adds, “I have told all of you guys the answer to this before!”
Followed by plenty of laughter and discussion. One spirited player starts rattling off... “Even though our captain is not there for the finals....” and is abruptly stopped by a chorus of ohohoh from his team mates followed by a short burst of laughter!
The answer comes through quickly.. It is “Passion and Unity” I ask whether there is anything else, to which “teamwork” is added with very little hesitation. On inquiring more I learn that these three words are the “Teams motto”. A background comment adds that the team would be perfect when they “lift the Hayman!”
What are the coolest things about water Polo!
The team turns towards one member and says, “... Number one GIRLS!” the writer of this article has withheld the name of this member for privacy purposes! Answers were varied
“Ah! To trash the living daylights out of your opponents”
“Everyone can take part in a land based sport, but only a few could play water polo”
“You can have fun”
“And thrash the living daylights out of anyone”
“Women, Girls. That’s the most important thing”
I reminded the Royalists that I had already spoken to their opponents, and asked them to give me some good answers! To this I was told, “We don’t talk that much. Only action”
“The coolest thing is the feeling that you get after winning the Hayman” This statement results in the entire team applauding.
“Being more violent”
“There should be mixed teams. Girls should be able to play”
GoalKeeper: Goal keeping in the water is surely more demanding than a sport like football. What tactics do you use to ensure that you are able to prevent your opposing team from scoring?
Dimuth: We do a lot of treading water and our coach has this really good knack of finding all sorts of “treasures” to lift in the water. So basically we lift heavy weights or buckets full of water, and tree trunks, bricks, and we move a lot and it’s very hard and difficult because it takes a long time to get used to treading water. We’ve been lifting chairs inside the water since last year!
Captain: How do you keep your team mates motivated and active in the water?
Yahan: I try to involve everyone in the game because I don’t want anyone to be left out. I try to make collective decisions even in decision making for the team. I may be a bit vocal during practice and scold my teammates a bit too much during practice but during a match, even when they miss a goal; I tell them that they’ve made a mistake but to make sure that they would do it correctly next time. I also try to make my team mates understand what Royal college WP really is and how important it is for our school. And our motto is that no one can actually touch the Hayman trophy unless they earn it. So I remind my mates everyday that they need to earn it for Royal.
We also have small team meetings after practice and we also do team activities and go out to the extent of even missing school for a get together and to play games! Whatever we do, we do it together. If it is someone’s birthday everybody will get involved and organize a card and a cake. It’s actually kind of a family that we have over here and everybody contributes towards decision making
How would you convince more people to join the sport and make it more popular?
Sanjeeva Wickramasinghe: For example telling people what they could get from the sport, and by letting them know the advantage of doing this sport, especially from a school level. For example, going from school for tours abroad, representing College, Getting colours, obtaining prefectship and it can also help when you are looking for jobs. So it’s basically everything that we can gain by doing the sport.
Dimuth: By saying how rare the sport is and how it is and how different it is compared to other sports.
I’d explain to everybody how important WP is, and that if you play WP it is actually recognized in school and you could be popular.
So most people like being popular... and water polo is an elite sport, and we will try to attract them in this way.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Roy Thora game?
“No Thoughts. We are obviously gonna win!”
Dimuth: Since the Hayman is now on the 28th of September, the morning newspapers on the 29th will read “Royal Thrashes the Thomians for the Fifth Consecutive year”
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