Nuwan Hettiarachchi was a superb place kicker-by Althaf Nawaz
Source:Dailynews
It is unique to find a family imbibed with a sportsman starting from the father. The children of the family followed in the footsteps and reached great heights in sports with some of them ending up wearing the National jersey. Akila Nuwan Hettiarachchi was one of the them whose whole family mingled in sports with the guidance of their father to become a profound sportsman.
Akila Nuwan Hettiarachchi was called ‘Hetti’ in rugby circles and was born in 1988 in Kandy. His father Sunil Hettiarachchi is a businessman and was a former soccer player. Vineetha is his mother and is a house wife. He has five other siblings with Kanchana the elder sister, Sanka and Pathum elder brothers while Kusal and Deneth younger brothers. All the boys represented Dharmaraja College, Kandy and were involved in sports. His two elder brothers Sanka and Pathum donned the college rugby jersey where Sanaka ended up playing competitive rugby representing Kandy. Nuwan was enrolled with Dharmaraja College as a primary student in 1995 and continued his higher studies until 2007.
With the family’s influence, he had a liking to engage in sports and was motivated by his elder brother Sanka to select Rugby in addition to other sports. He finally locked horns handling the rugby ball when he was eleven years old joining the school under-13 team, which was coached by Mohamed Faisal, who eventually taught the basics of the oval shaped ball. On par with rugby, he continued dribbling the football for school commencing from the same age group, where he ended up playing for Sri Lanka under-20 team. He had an added advantage by playing soccer, which inculcated the additional skill of place kicking. With this capability, he chose to play as a utility player either as a wing three quarter or the full back position in the XV-a-side format. In sevens, he occupied the positions of prop forward, fly half or as a winger depending on the situation. He continued his illustrious rugby career from the junior level and represented the college under-15 team coached by Chaminda Ambadoru, under-17 by Ananada Kasthuriarachchi and the under-19 by Nilfer Ibrahim respectively.
When he was 17 years, he played for the first XV team in 2005. They became under-18 All Island champions in the 10- a-side Milo Tournament. In 2005, they became the champions of Inter School Division-1 tournament followed by the ‘Plate Championship’ at the Milo sevens tournament. In 2007, they became the unbeaten league Champions of segment 2. He was then selected to play for the Sri Lanka under-20 team coached by Sanath Martis and Viper Guneratne.
After his school career, he decided to continue his club rugby and made his debut in 2008 with Havelock Sports Club in both XV’s and sevens Rugby at the caltex Rugby League Tournament. Next year he crossed over to join the Navy and continued playing for them until 2010, once again in both formats of the game. He was fortunate enough to be in the team which beat Kandy team at Welisara in 2009, where he booted the two penalties on offer. That Navy team also beat CR and FC for the first time at Welisara in 2009, where he was instrumental in contributing immensely towards their success. After his tenure there, he returned to his home town to join the Kandy team in the 2011/12 season under the leadership of Saliya Kumara. He rejoined the Navy team in 2013 and surged ahead to compete for them until the 2015 season winning several championships on offer in both formats of the game. The 2013 team was captained by Rohitha Rajapaksa while the 2014/15 team was led by Namal Rajapaksa. He also has some unblemished memories there which included defeating Kandy at Nittawela after ten years where he scored 14 points for them and the other converting a 63-metre penalty establishing a new record against the Up Country Lions team in 2013/14 season, where he remained as the highest points scorer of the tournament. He played along with a few foreign players in that team which included the likes of Setefano Cakau (Fiji) Joeli Lutumailagi (Fiji) Eremasi Radrodro (Fiji).
No sooner he started his club rugby career in 2009, he was selected to represent the National side and donned the Sri Lankan jersey until 2015. He competed in both forms of the game and in 2009, made his debut at the Asian five nations tournament in Shanghai, China under Asehen Karthelis captaincy followed by the same tournament in 2010 in Singapore under Pradeep Liyanage’s captaincy when they became champions. Shaun Wijesinghe led them in 2011 in the same tournament played in Kazakhstan. It is noteworthy that he played a key role by scoring mostly during his tenure as a player with the National side.
In 2009, he joined John Keells Group and played rugby at the Mercantile Sevens Tournament. Next year in 2010, he moved to Access Group and played for them at the Mercantile Sevens Tournament. From 2011 to 2013, he represented the Nation Lanka Finance PLC Group at the Mercantile Sevens Tournament, where in 2012 he was adjudged player of the tournament after becoming the champions. He played in the Carlton International Super sevens tournament commencing from 2013 and concluded his Mercantile rugby career by competing for MAS Group at the Mercantile sevens in 2014/15 season.
In 2015, he moved to Australia in order to support his wife who decided to follow her higher educational course in Melbourne. There in 2015, 2016 and 2017 played for Atkinson sevens team at the Goldfields Rugby Sevens Tournament, Bendigo and Ballarat organized by the Victorian Rugby Union. Over 30 Australian and International teams participated in that competition. He started his coaching career in Melbourne, Australia in 2018 after completing his Level-1 accreditation in coaching. There he shared his knowledge with several clubs starting from junior rugby from 2018 and completed Level-2 accreditation in coaching in 2021.
He would like to extend his sincere gratitude to all his coaches commencing from school days and Sanath Martis, Viper Guneratne, Nishantha Chanaka (Alex), Ronny Ibrahim, Johan Taylor, Neil Footy, Leonard De Silva and Mothilal Jayathilake.
His wife is Kareen Siegertsz who has stood as a pillar of strength in his life and has two children Kyarah and Brianna.
