Tekla Priyadarshani: Umpire, Teacher, and Dreamer
11th December 2024
Interviewed and written by Hiranyada Dewasiri
Illustration by Shenuka Corea
People find their purposes in life in different ways. Some stumble upon them accidentally while some spend their entire lives searching for them. Some, however, intuitively know what they want from a very young age. Though she did not know it in exact words, Tekla Priyadarshani Ketiperarachchi was making steadfast choices in pursuit of her passion from an early age.
Currently, Tekla is a national A-grade, international B-grade netball referee, a netball coach at Colombo Ladies College and the University of Colombo. She is also a former coach at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), Colombo. She is also an Instructor at the National Institute of Sports Science. In addition, she also serves as a visiting lecturer at several sports education institutions including the Nilwala Collage of Education, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and the Uva Provincial Institute of Sports Science.
Born in Galle, Tekla was a mischievous little girl. She rode her bicycle to school. “Though I was a girl, I would sometimes do a lot of things boys did”. Tekla enjoyed her life in the village bathing in rivers with her friends making sure her parents didn't find out. She feels that this was probably how she got into sports. “Maybe sports were in my genes.” Starting with athletics, Tekla switched to netball because of her school physical training instructor (PTI), who specialized in netball. Tekla was inspired by her PTIs. After watching them, she decided that she would also go on to be a PTI one day.
Putting her passion for sports first, Tekla was not too keen on academics, something adults often pointed out to her parents. “People said things like ‘Tekla will never do well in her studies’”. But her parents continued to support her interest in sports. In grade 10, Tekla was chosen for the Kreeda Shakthi programme. After being selected to the Galle district team, she decided that she is going to embark on a long journey in netball.
Balancing her sports career and her academics, Tekla sat for the Advanced Level exams. However, she couldn’t wait for her result to make her fate alone. In secret, Tekla travelled to Ja-Ela to face an interview to join the Sri Lanka Air Force. Her parents were in the dark about this decision until her enrolment letter arrived. “Everyone at home told me not to go, that the tri-forces aren’t suitable for girls.” But Tekla did not budge. She stood her ground. Even from her very young days, Tekla was someone to make her own decisions, alone.
After a few years in the Air Force, she left in 2014 and joined Siddhartha College, Galle as a physical education teacher. In 2015, Tekla came to the National Institute for Sports Sciences for the first time to pursue a diploma in sports. From that day on, Tekla has not taken a break from pursuing educational qualifications.
“Every time I collect a new qualification, it makes me extremely happy. That is my happiness”. Tekla holds a BSc in Sports & Fitness from Lincoln University College, Malaysia, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She has also completed a Higher Diploma in Strength & Conditioning (NVQ 06), a Diploma in Sports Science (NVQ 05), a Certificate Course in Physical Fitness Instruction (NVQ 04), and a Level II Certificate in Sports Science (Netball) from the National Institute of Sport Science, and hopes to further her studies with a Master’s degree in sports. Sports, according to her, is something that updates itself daily. Something changes every day and Tekla feels the need to keep up, especially because she is an educator.
Tekla’s typical day begins very early. She wakes up at 4am to go coach at 5.30am. After finishing practices at 8.45am, she has to change into a saree and mark her attendance at her office sharp at 9am. Leaving her office at around 4.45pm, she goes for another coaching session. Somewhere in this routine, she finds time for her studies too. As determined as she is, it is never easy, she admits. On some of her mornings, she wonders why she still has to work so hard after having achieved what she already has. “But I am very happy doing what I do, and the more difficult the commitment is, I feel happy that I have given it 1000% of my effort”.
Tekla is the first woman netball umpire from Sri Lanka to go to a B-grade rating directly bypassing the C-grade in international umpire gradings, an achievement she is deeply proud of. Her next goal is to reach an A-grade and umpire a World Cup.
Although Tekla does not get to visit her parents as much as she wishes, she’s not far away from her family as her younger brothers live with her. Tekla playfully claims that she is like their big brother, explaining that she is firm when it comes to the choices her brothers make. “They are a little afraid of me. Even if they wanted to go out for a musical show, they ask for my permission.”
Tekla emphasizes the importance of discipline and work ethic, qualities she always valued but furthered during her time in the Air Force. She believes in thorough preparation for anything. Her lectures are delivered well-prepared and her clothes are worn neatly. Her standards for discipline do not apply to her alone. Tekla expects the same dedication and work ethic from her students. When she met her netball coach Thilaka Jinadasa during her time in the national pool, she was deeply inspired by how Jinadasa conducted training. “Thilaka Miss is a role model for me. When I saw how she controlled the students and planned training, I also wanted to maintain that same discipline.”
There are two things an otherwise-fearless Tekla is afraid of. Dogs and making mistakes. She feels that people place a lot of trust in her and if she makes a mistake, she will lose the confidence others have placed in her. As she makes her way to achieve her goals, Tekla says that sometimes others feel as though she is standing in their way. This has led to anonymous defamatory letters being sent to her family. “I have freedom but I also have goals”, she said, explaining that she would not make choices that would sabotage her future. Yet, having to convince her family and her office and control damage adds more to her plate. Despite how difficult it gets, Tekla says that she never shows the world that she’s upset, choosing to keep everything to herself. “I am very serious about how my personality is perceived and I don’t like to be seen as someone who cries.”
While she made many bold choices in her career, she feels that she could have made some of them differently if she had been more aware. As she immediately joined the Air Force, she was unaware of other pathways she could have followed such as a sports science degree at a state university or teacher training. However, she is determined to ensure that young people today make informed decisions. So, at her workplace and when she goes home for holidays, she makes sure to talk to the young people she meets about the paths they could follow to build their future.
In difficult times, what gave Tekla hope was her target. “I am the one I believed in throughout this journey”. She hopes that one day, Tekla’s name will be known all over Sri Lanka. However, this was not a journey she came on alone. The support she got from her family kept her going. Though her friends changed as life took her to new places, their support too remained constant in her life. She is grateful to everyone who has supported her along the way, especially her mother and father, her former national-level coach Thilaka Jinadasa, and the Director of the National Institute of Sports Science for their encouragement and guidance.
“Life is what exists between what is difficult and what is easy”, says Tekla. On some days, she only gets about four hours of sleep after a long day. But to her, this is the kind of commitment it takes to achieve things that make you happy and content.
Reference Links and Further Reading
DITL Ep 1: Tekla Priyadarshani Netball Coach & International Umpire, YouTube, 10 January 2025, https://youtu.be/Y_kaLG0wiqY?si=_6WkJaPXII8kt0T5
Notes
This article is pending support to be translated into Sinhala and Tamil. Please email storiesofslwomen@everystorysl.org if you would like to support us with translations or if you have any questions.
(Hiranyda Dewasiri is a researcher based in Colombo)
