A. N. Perera - hockey coaching in his blood

By Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

HOCKEY: He is a national player himself and an old Anandian who excelled in athletics, hockey, soccer and cricket with a tremendous enthusiasm for coaching in almost all sports, a name synonymous with National Hockey coaching in particular and international hockey umpiring etched in the mind of many sportsmen and women in Sri Lanka.

The indelible lanky tall figure often seen scanning the length and breadth of many a ground is none other than J. A. N. Perera better known as A. N. Perera, Director Coaching, Development and Promotion, Sri Lanka Hockey Federation, Chairman Coaches Committee and Visiting Lecturer, National Institute of Sports Science.

Today, A. N. Perera with his incredible feats of sporting achievement and experience, holds the post of Director Coaching, Development and Promotion Sri Lanka Hockey Federation as he has been responsible for drawing up a National Programme men and women, Junior men and women, youth and Junior youth to participate in international tournaments held here and abroad. He has also been responsible for preparing a ten-year development programme for the first time in Sri Lanka to introduce hockey to districts where hockey was not being played.

He has also been instrumental in forming the Matara, Kalutara and Gampaha District Schools Hockey Associations in 1998, 2002 and 2004 making him a doyen of hockey in Sri Lanka to add to his many facets as an eminent national figure of all time. Nothing succeeds so well as success as Talleyrand says is so true.

A busy man, still energetic and pleasant as he used to be back in the 70s and 80s when I played hockey, A. N. Perera was elated to give me an interview when I went over to Reid Avenue and surprised him. He was coaching the National Team just three days prior to their departure to India for a tournament.

Reminiscing his thrilling career in the sporting arena despite the strong opposition from his father who insisted that he should concentrate on his studies and not sports; his career at St. Peter's College, Colombo he says was his most unforgettable. As member of the tutorial staff, he discharged his duties as Moderator of Physical Education and Health Science, producing remarkable results of excellence over a period of twenty years during Rev. Frs. Cleavor Perera, Joe Wickremasinghe, Kingsley Jayamanne, Felician Perera, Sunil Perera and presently Travis Gabriel. Serving the Sports Board since 1976, he was responsible for the revival of hockey, tennis, badminton, football, volleyball and cadetting in the school.

A. N. Perera recalled the days when he coached his alma mater to emerge Senior Hockey Champions in '76 and 77'. Thirty years went by thereafter coaching Visakha Vidyalaya who excelled in hockey from 1992-2003. He was also the hockey coach for eminent hockey playing schools like St Pauls, Milagiriya, Nalanda College, Royal College, Wesley College, Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya, Presidents College, Rajagiriya, D. S. Senanayake, Muslim Ladies College, Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, Good Shepherd Convent, Panadura, Ananda Balika Vidyalaya, Kotte, Holy Family Convent, Wennappuwa and Janadipathi Balika Vidyalaya, Nawala which he enjoyed doing through the years.

The veteran sportsman also graduated at the internationally recognized National Institute of Sports India in 1972, passed the examination of the Punjab and Hariyana Hockey Umpires Association based on the International rules of the game of hockey and is the only Sri Lankan to be awarded a diploma to date. A. N. Perera also represented Sri Lanka at the Olympic Solidarity course in hockey coaching and administration in Thailand in 1981 and was awarded an A grade certificate of merit by the International Hockey Federation in 1987 and 1994 and he has passed the IAAF course for judges conducted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation held in Sri Lanka prior to the 5th SAF Games in 1991. Perera represented Sri Lanka at the FIH World Cup High Performance Coaching course in 2002. He is the Vice Patron of the Colombo Hockey Association, the Vice President of the Colombo District Basketball Association and General Secretary of the Track Masters Sports Club to add to the long list of accomplishments which took him to greater heights where he is today.

His international umpiring experience, being a member of the Sri Lanka Umpires' panel since 1968 and a member of the Punjab and Haryana Hockey Umpires Association, India in 1972 are additions to his feats.

A happy father of two children, his son a pilot and daughter a student at Visakha Vidyalaya, he is proud of his wife too, also a hockey player, presently a Senior Executive at Haleys Ltd.

The simple virtues of willingness, readiness, alertness and courtesy will carry a young man farther than mere smartness and so it has for him and as Andrew Carnegie said I believe the true road to success in any line is to make yourself master of that line, so has A. N. Perera the doyen of hockey in Sri Lanka done too.