Coach Prasanna Galappaththi's keenness has improved Matara's cricket

by Priyan de Silva - Matara sports Corr.

CRICKET: Cricket they say captures the heart of many people. In Matara there is a gentleman who has put his heart and soul to the game and spread the word through the length and breadth of Matara. He has made the game very popular in the district.

The great cricket fan is none other than Sri Lanka Cricket's district coach for Matara Prasanna Galappaththi who has been instrumental in promoting the game in home town. An old boy of St. Servatius College, Matara Prasanna Galappaththi has the unique distinction of having captained the school team at all age groups. From school, he went over to club cricket and has the distinction of having led Matara Sports Club to win the division two cricket tournament in Sri Lanka in 1985/86.

Playing cricket is not the end of the journey, so thought Galappaththi, so he put his hand to one of his life's ambitions to be coach in the game that he loves so dearly. He started his coaching career in 1992 and quite naturally started off with St. Servatius College in spells till 2000. He was then appointed as coach of Rahula College under-17 and under-19 in 2002 which assignment he did for seven years till 2009. He was elevated to be the District coach of Matara with Sri Lanka Cricket.

As district coach he was instrumental in reviving the inter-club division three inter-district cricket tournament. Not only did he revive the game in Matara, Prasanna Galappaththi put his heart and soul to the game and made Old Thomians Cricket Club, Matara the champion in 2010 tournament.

Prasanna's enthusiasm did not stop at that. Cricket is loved by many and the girls in Matara too had a soft corner for the game of cricket.

So he started to coach the girls too at cricket. He coached St. Mary's Convent, Sujatha Balika Vidyalaya, Vijitha Central College, Sri Sumangala Balika at Weligama and Anura College, Matara. Five schools have added leather ball cricket to their extra curricular activities due to the efforts of this coach.

Playing cricket has to be done in a methodical manner and one has to be fit to keep upto the tempo of the game. Conducting of first-aid classes and physiotherapy workshops to keep the girls

fit was another aspect of coach Galappaththi's routine and the girls very willingly took his advice and were very active on the field. Every school that entered the girls schools tournament followed the physiotherapy workshops carefully.

A word of thanks should go to Sri Lanka Cricket's Southern Province physio Janaka Edirisinghe who agreed to allocate enough time for the conducting of physiotherapy workshops.

Playing cricket needs facilities. Prasanna has seen to it that the facilities at the Uyanwatta Stadium at Matara inclusive of the Nawaloka pavilion were upgraded so that the crickets will not have any handicaps.

Matara's cricketers have had it good with Prasanna Galappaththi's tireless work to encourage them on to playing cricket the correct way.

It's not only cricket for him. He is a social worker in many organisations and has built up a rapport with many officials from Government and Mercantile sector which has helped him to promote and develop the game,.