SRI LANKA SPORTS TOUR

By James Deacy (H) Year 10

On going to bed, many of us felt apprehensive about the 5am wake up set for us on the fifth day, but we soon learnt that it was worth the temporary pain. We travelled to Sigiriya Rock, a wonder of the world, at dawn and watched the sun rise over Sri Lanka’s breathtaking jungle and mountains. This glorious ascent turned to be a symbolic reflection for the games ahead, with both girls and boys winning their next matches. Still, what comes up, must go down and that was the case with a somewhat humbling experience for the Colts cricket team. After a solid start in the field, we held our opposition to 219 in 40 overs. After this long and drawn-out innings, we were somewhat expecting to be batting for another hour or two in the heat. This was, sadly, not the case. We were bowled out within 8 overs by two exceptional spinners, one of whom took 5 wickets in all. We were quickly able to put that game behind us though, as we travelled to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, the most important Buddhist relic in Sri Lanka. The gold and ivory covering the temple was a somewhat stark difference to the abbey church that we were used to but it was fascinating to learn about the history of Buddhism and while continuing our tour of Sri Lanka, we were able to visit a tea factory as well as an elephant orphanage.

The penultimate day held our final fixtures in Sri Lanka. We visited the Foundation of Goodness, a charity that helps children from the Sri Lankan countryside and gives them an education and sporting opportunities. The boys faced a foundation cricket team while the girls played them in netball. Both ended in defeat, but we were all inspired by the amazing work that the charity did. The evening held an awards ceremony for the tourists and for Ravi and Rohan, our excellent tour guides.

On the final day of the tour, we visited a turtle hatchery, and had the incredible opportunity to release some baby turtles into the wild by hand. We then travelled on a boat cruise around the Madu River and had a first-hand experience on how different cinnamon products were made from some locals on an island there.

All in all, it was an absolutely incredible trip in which we had some unbelievable opportunities. We all feel sincerely grateful to the teachers who organised it, and I think it’s safe to say we will cherish these memories forever.

Training on the beach followed by a delicious, if spicy, lunch at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, set the tone for a tour packed with excitement, adventure and new experiences.

Whether the tears shed at the lunch table were of pure happiness or down to the chillis in the fish curry I’m not sure, but there was certainly an air of cheeriness among the tourists on what was a great way to begin our time in Sri Lanka.

Our fixtures began with the girls facing St Bridget’s in netball and the boys taking on two St Thomas’ sides in rugby. A victory for the girls and a win and a draw for the boys (including two fine tries from Bell and Deacy, which Mr Phillips rated as the best he had seen in the last three years) built up confidence for the fixtures ahead. But this was a multisport tour, and the next day brought cricket along with the sunshine, with both girls’ and boys’ teams facing Mercantile Academy and Kingfisher Academy respectively. It’s possible that the heat got the better of both sides, or perhaps it was the difficulty in adjusting to the Sri Lankan wickets, but both matches ended in defeat for the tourists. Despite this, a positive contribution from Freeland with an extremely accomplished half century in the 30° heat maintained our spirits.

Then came the first of a number of interludes from the sports fields: we were lucky enough to experience a jeep safari. We saw lots of elephants and took in some spectacular savannah scenery. And then something extraordinary and eye-opening happened. On our way to the hotel after the safari, Mrs Edgar and Mr Jackson came to the rescue of a young local boy who had seriously injured his foot while riding his bike.

Without the antiseptics in the Ampleforth first aid kit, the boy could have potentially died if his wound had been infected. It was inspirational to see our teachers potentially save someone’s life after reacting proactively on seeing the hubbub of a crowd as we passed in our bus.