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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 7

Publication Date: July 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.107.15127

Wanasingha, S., & Senaweera, L. N. (2023). Identification of Factors: Affecting the Performance of the Sri Lanka Netball Team.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 340-351.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Identification of Factors: Affecting the Performance of the Sri

Lanka Netball Team

Sanjeevani Wanasingha

Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK (MBA Degree)

Lalith Nimal Senaweera

Retired Director General (Sri Lanka Standards Institution)

ABSTRACT

This study employs a critical examination and methodical analysis of factors

affecting the performance of the National netball team performance of Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, the document will focus on (a) Identifying the factors affecting the

performance of the national Netball team. (b) Reveal the relationships between the

above-identified factors vs the performances of the team. (c) Identify the insights on

how those findings are applied in the refereeing era. (d) Derive conclusions and

recommendations of research findings for performance enhancement of the

National Netball team. The findings of this document will emphasize National level

Netballers in Sri Lanka to achieve their pinnacles in individual and team

performances in order to keep the National flag high in the international netball

arena. Further, these findings can be applied to other team sports and team-based

professional environments for enhancing their performances too. Also, the author

indirectly expects those revealed findings will simultaneously affect the promotion

of the game and uplift women’s empowerment among 52% of the feminine

population in Sri Lanka, for their wellbeing.

Keywords: NFSL - Netball Federation of Sri Lanka, IFNA - International Federation of

Netball Associations

INTRODUCTION

Netball is the most popular women’s sport in the world. As per IFNA statistics, it is being played

by more than 20 million globally in 80 countries. Girls and women in many age categories from

teenagers to veterans, in different levels; e.g., School level, club level, national level,

international level, etc. engage with the game. It is utilized for recreation/ leisure purposes at

school and club levels, and the game is professionally played at national and international

levels. The game has contributed immensely to uplifting women’s empowerment; health and

well-being, education, social inclusion, learning and skills development, partnership building,

etc., worldwide.

The game is famous among Sri Lankan feminine, because of its more fittingness to their culture

and social limitations than other sports. Small space (100m*100m) and fewer material

requirements (goal post and the ball), smooth playing rhythm, comparatively a smaller number

of players (7) requirements, limited time duration of the game (1 hour), flexible dress code, are

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Wanasingha, S., & Senaweera, L. N. (2023). Identification of Factors: Affecting the Performance of the Sri Lanka Netball Team. Advances in Social

Sciences Research Journal, 10(7). 340-351.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.107.15127

some of them. It is very rare to find a Sri Lanka woman who has not played Netball at school,

irrespective of the area whether it is Colombo or a suburb.

GAME HISTORY

Netball was forecasted as a different version of a female basketball game in the USA by Prof.

James Nicsmith in 1891 as a 9 A- Side Basketball game. Later, the game was introduced to

England and the first match was played there in 1895 at Madame Ostenburg’s College. The

initial codified rules of the game were published in 1900/1901 by Ling Association; which later

became the Physical Education Association. In the first half of the 20th century, the game

spanned gradually over the countries under British colonization. Later, the International

Federation of Netball Association (IFNA) was formed in 1960 in Colombo, Sri Lanka with the

participation of the main five countries; England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa & West

Indies. Accordingly, it was decided to hold World Championship tournaments every four years,

initiated in Eastbourne, England, in 1963. The first world youth championship was introduced

in 1998 in Canberra and the game was qualified for the commonwealth games in 1988 in Kuala

Lumpur. Further, Netball became a “recognized” sport too by International Olympic Committee

(IOC) in 1995.

The game was introduced to Sri Lanka by Mrs. Jennie Green. The initial match was played in

1921 by the Ceylon Girl Guide Company at Kandy High School. The first-ever international

match against Australia’s National Netball team was played in 1963 after the inauguration of

the Netball Association of Ceylon. Later existing Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) was

formed in 1983 as the governing body of Sri Lanka Netball and is affiliated with International

Netball Federation (INF) through Asian Netball Federation (ANF), presently Asian Netball.

NFSL is the governing body of Sri Lanka Netball with the membership of 35 associations,

including 24 districts and 11 affiliated members in 2014.

SRI LANKA NETBALL TEAM PERFORMANCES

There was a goal for the Sri Lanka Netball team to be among the best ten Netball teams in the

world Since 1997. IFNA is the authorized body to declare the world Netball ranking considering

its members’ international performances. However, there are so many international

tournaments conducted worldwide, Sri Lanka’s rank mainly depends on the Asian

championship and World Cup performances. Accordingly, It was observed that though Sri

Lanka was the Asian top ranker in the IFNA ranking up to mid of the present decade, where Sri

Lanka holds the 24th rank while Singapore and Malaysia hold 19th and 21st positions

respectively as of 31st July 2014 INF ranking.

When it considers our Asian championship performances, we have become the Asian Netball

Champions on four occasions in the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Championships in 1989, 1997, 2001, and

2009 respectively, Sri Lanka was not able to qualify for the World Cup in 2005 due to Asian

performances drop to 2nd runner-up. Also, unable to defend the Asian champions in 2012 &

2014 both consecutive tournaments even though we have the asset of Asia’s tallest Player

“Tharjini Sivalingam” who has become the highest-scored shooter in the World Cup-2011.

Having such a world-class player and other talented senior national players, instead of moving

forward, a drop in our international performances could be observed. It has become the reason

for conducting this research considering the same, responsibility of the author as a national

netballer.

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 7, July-2023

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

IDENTIFICATION OF FACTORS

International performances of the Sri Lanka Netball team were not aligning with national

Netball expectations due to various reasons; unavailability of defined goals in world and

regional rankings, unavailability of a national plan for game development lack of player

motivation for best performance due to financial and non-financial reasons, limitations for

international exposure, communication gaps, poor game plans or no game plans, failures in

decision-making on the court, inappropriate training programs, due to conflicts inside the team

and outside the team, etc., are some of the critical issues identified in National Netball.

Hence, there was a need for a methodical approach to ascertain this performance drop.

Accordingly, a critical literature review was taken place to identify the main factors affecting

the performance enhancement of the game.

Performance measurement can be measured from two perspectives, namely subjective and

objective. Subjective performance is measured by considering the perception of the players,

coaches, or spectators’ performance (Besharat & Pourbohlool, 2011). Objective measures

considered the actual performance which would be measured through win-loss percentages,

points accumulated in a medal table, and many more (Vella, Oades, & Crowe, 2013).

Accordingly, both performances are important for the subject topic.

As per scholars’ findings during past decades, motivation is the main factor affecting

performance. The motivation of a team depends on intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting team

members. Intrinsic motivation (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) are important concepts for

understanding motivational processes in sports settings (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 2002; Vallerand &

Rousseau, 2001). According to self-determination theory (SDT) by Deci & Ryan (1985; 2002),

motivational processes are best understood as a continuum of itemizations ranging from

volitional to highly controlling forms of regulation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). There are four sources

of EM that have been identified in the sport motivation literature and include: external

regulation, interjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation (Vallerand &

Rousseau, 2001). Further, Vallerand and Rousseau (2001) identified three forms of IM. Those

include (a) the Pleasure one receives from learning; (b) Pleasure and satisfaction received over

accomplishment of a particular task or goal; and (c) and experience of stimulation due to

pleasurable sensations (Vallerand & Rousseau, 2001). Irrespective of the unitary (Deci & Ryan,

2002) or tripartite (Vallerand & Rousseau, 2001) conceptualization of IM, arguments put forth

within the framework of SDT contend that self-determined motivate on promotes adaptive

cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences including domain-specific indices of

improved performance. Research has shown that more self-determined motives are positively

associated with various cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes in sports settings (Gagne,

Ryan, & Bargmann, 2003; Kowal & Fortier, 1999; Vallerand & Rousseau, 2001). One area of

debate is the influence of performance-contingent rewards on IM. Performance-contingent

rewards are defined as rewards "given explicitly for doing well on a task or for performing up

to a specified standard" (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 27) such as offering monetary incentives for

performances that exceed a known standard. Deci and colleagues (1999a; 1999b; Ryan & Deci,

2000) claimed that the most detrimental reward contingency involves giving rewards as a

direct function of performance. Conversely, Cameron and colleagues (1994; 1996; 2001)

declared that rewards that are tied to specific performance standards and to success exert a

positive influence on