Target Group
Athletes of potential for future success with an eye for 2022 and beyond, with an ultimate eye for a future Olympic medal.
Category of Sports
All within the Olympic domain
Age group
15-16 years and will go up to 19-20 years under special circumstances by 2021
General Overview
Primarily the selection process is rather futuristic and hypothetic. The reason, no one can predict that an athlete who is promising at the age of 15 could sustain the same intensity at 22-23 especially under local day-do-day life.
Unlike in developed nations Sri Lanka lacks a proper system of youth development as result wilting talent is very common especially among the poorer segments of the society. The young athlete may have the “Fire in his/her belly” but the sustenance of the intensity is very challenging.
Then in the middle-income group once again the challenge is different, but very community bound. The middle-income group athletes in the ages of 15-16 are about to sit for their Ordinary Level Examinations so they are in a severe dilemma choosing between studies and the sports. In this aspect the parents play a huge role in the young athletes’ future as a sportsperson.
Another aspect that should not be overlooked is the role that the coach plays in the career of the athlete. When an athlete spurts-out to fame – making a major accomplishment i.e., Parami Wasanthi winning the Youth Olympic Bronze medal. The impact that was made in the aftermath was irritable for the athlete. The Coach was not willing to accept the realities and hand over the athlete to the more competent coaches and as a result Parami faced a lot of difficulties.
Finally, the panel also must make a mental mark as how this LKR. one million grant be stretched for the benefit of the athlete – this will be one of the mandatory factors that the sponsors Crysbro will be looking at.
Modality
a. Parents
- Their vocations and income bracket. If they are from affluent background the LKR. one million per annum grant may not be appreciated as much as an athlete from a poorer background; but the recognition of winning the Crysbro scholarship will be an impact maker in their future careers whoever the recipients may be.
- What if the parents be willing to give more weight to the public examinations of the young athlete? If so the athletic career prospect will be in jeopardy – they must assure that there is a balance, with the help of the parent, athlete and the coach.
b. Athlete
The current abilities of the athlete if he/she could sustain this peak for the next 5-6 years. May be there is another athlete who has that sustaining or late developing module among them and how are we going to identify them.
There should be an accurate yardstick of how the selectee was identified and see how the athlete was placed within the rakings and quality of the achievement. i.e., If there is a difference between provincial meet and the John Tarbet schools’ championship. How many competitive meets that the athlete has been a part of, and his/her achievements and have they been consistent during a selected time slot.
Even in other sports such as boxing, swimming, golf, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Shooting, Weightlifting, Tennis, Karate, Rowing, Canoeing, Triathlon, Cycling, Gymnastic, Fencing, Archery, Badminton, Judo, Wrestling should be sifted through systems that is endemic to them. They should have accurate ranking systems cross reference systems and also be armed with the same characteristics and sustainability.
c. Selector
Taking the above factors and others into consideration how the selector would place a young athlete into his confidence and ascertain that by the age of 22 they would be medal winning material.
Selection
- Sports that would come within the purview of selection will be the sports that are competitive within the region of Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Youth Games and European International Championships.
- Sports which have already appeared at the Games as abovementioned in Sri Lanka.
- Athlete will be selected targeting Asian Youth Games, Commonwealth Youth Games, Youth Olympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games. The sport has been given priority with their past performances. If any sport has failed in winning a medal in above mentioned competitions, the performances of South Asian Games will be considered.
- To choose the sports, the number of participants and clubs in each sports shall be scrutinized and ascertain the number of local competitions.
- Priority shall be given to the athletes who are from lesser affluent background.
- If the athletes are in the affluent bracket and do not expect any financial benefits through this project, still they could be included in the project under the co-opted category to promote the particular athletes.
- One of the main criteria of the selection shall be the attributes of the athletes such as passion, hardworking, enthusiasm, parents’ support, coach’s belief of the athlete.
- The NOC Sri Lanka or Crysbro will not be responsible for any questionable action taken by coaches or managers or parents or federations.
- National youth champions who are in the first two places of the respective national youth championships held up to 2019 were considered for the first eleven slots. The rest of the slots shall be based on the performances during October – December, 2020.
- Athlete who has international ranking will also be considered.
Panel of Selection
The selection panel will comprise of Ms. Susanthika Jayasinghe OLY – Chairperson, Mr. Shehan Ambipitiya, Ms. Ineka Cooray Wickremesinghe, and Ms. Reshika Udugampola OLY assisted by Mr. S.R. Pathiravithana and Mr. G. Sivarajah.