Former Sri Lanka cricket team trainer Mario Villavarayen came forward to share his knowledge with Isipathana College at the Colts ground in Colombo last week.
The former St Peter’s College and Sri Lanka A team paceman Villavarayen is no stranger in the training business as he was at one time the trainer of the Sri Lanka team and later moved on for a stint with Bangladesh.
Presently he is involved in franchise team cricket especially at the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“I was very happy to be involved with the Isipathana cricket team and shared my knowledge with them,” said Villavarayen.
He responded to an invitation extended by Lasantha Amarasinghe the Chairman of Chance Sports who is also a former Isipathana and CCC player.
“Lasantha is the man who gave his full support to develop Isipathana cricket this season and he wanted to get my services.
“I had a chat with the players and gave them the basic knowledge about fitness, how to keep fit and what type of methods should be used for their fitness.
“In addition as a former fast bowler I gave some tips to youngsters to develop their fast bowling skills.
“They were very interested about fitness and asked me a lot of questions and it was a pleasure to talk to them. Fitness is very important for any sportsman and sportswoman. Some of them do the wrong things to keep fit,” said Villavarayen.
Villavarayen said he himself was able to acquire more knowledge about fitness by working with foreigners at franchise cricket.
