TRIBUTE TO COACH “SUNDA” – WRITTEN BY HILARY WHITE
An opponent’s viewpoint of a professional master you love to hate in battle, but love with dignity & respect off the field for the rest of your life)
Who can forget Coach Sunda? I must have played against teams coached by him almost 50 times!
First for St Josephs junior and senior teams against St Benedicts and then in the great encounters for the Orients against the Old Bens.
I also played for Western Province and Mercantile teams in the Nationals against Schools sides coached by him.
Some of these games were fierce physical battles but teams coached by him always played hard but fair.
I had the utmost respect for Sunda (always called him Sir!) and tried always to shake his hand after games no matter the result and no matter the fleeting euphoria of victory or the bitterness of defeat.
I only once played in a tournament in a team coached by him. It was a great and unforgettable Basketball experience.
To be coached by someone of such calm demeanour who read the game so well was a valuable Basketball lesson.
A measure of his success as coach, where he drilled into his players the all important fundamentals of the game, is surely in the great number of his players who made the National team. His coaching record speaks for itself.
Sunda always had a charming and ready smile and a great sense of humour usually characterised by witty one liners.
I remember talking to him about Basketball, sitting under the trees on a wooden bench at Police Park when I was in my late teens eager to learn from anyone who would talk to me about this great game. His advice and reflections on the game were given readily, notwithstanding the fact that I was a perennial opponent.
That is a measure of a good man and a great sportsman.
When I left Sri Lanka in 1972 I sadly lost touch with him.
I hope that life treated him well – he certainly deserved it for the guidance and life lessons he gave so many players and students.
HILARY WHITE
3 July 2020
