Author Topic: Coach Zico Holds Clinic for Thai Deep South Football Fans  (Read 333 times)

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Coach Zico Holds Clinic for Thai Deep South Football Fans
« on: April 13, 2020, 04:35:39 PM »
BENARNEWS- More than 1,000 young football enthusiasts from across Thailand’s restive Deep South flocked to Narathiwat province recently to take part in a special coaching clinic featuring football legend Kiatisuk “Zico” Senamuang, coach of the Thai national team.
The clinic was one of many activities organized by the Ministry of Education (MoE) as part of a campaign launched a year ago to promote youth sports in Thailand’s five southern border provinces.
Earlier this year, the MoE adjusted the national education curriculum at the primary level to mandate that students spend more time pursuing non-academic pursuits during the school day.
The move followed years of reports that Thai students fared poorly in standardized testing compared to other countries in the region, despite spending very long days in the classroom. In Thailand, even 6-year-olds report for school at 8 a.m. and end their day at 4 p.m.
“The MoE understands that if we systematically incorporate more sporting activities into the education system, it will increase the potential of youths here to help develop the country in a sustainable way,” Deputy Minister of Education Lt. Gen. Surachet Chaiwong told the crowd during an opening ceremony.
The government also hopes the project will lead more local youths to pursue sports-related careers, possibly as teachers and trainers working with future generations of young athletes – and possibly even launching some of the most gifted athletes onto the international stage.
A lack of opportunities
Students attending last week’s clinic were bused in from throughout the region.
Leading drills, Zico explained how mastering four fundamental skills – footwork, passing, heading and shooting – is key to developing the personal skills that can then be applied to learning the all-important ability to work as part of a team.
“From my past experience I have seen that football players from the South possess good technical skills at just about every level, but they tend to get eliminated from competitions early due to a lack of experience. I want to help these kids develop their abilities and pass these skills on to future generations of young footballers for greater success in the future,” he said.
Afnan Baka, 16, a student at the Darussoliheen School, a private Islamic religious school in Muang Narathiwat district, said he and other youths in the three southernmost border provinces were pleased to get instruction from a famous coach.
“Most kids in this region like sports, which is normal. However we lack good opportunities because of the incidents of unrest that happen here so often,” Afnan said.
Since 2004, about 6,500 people – mostly civilians – have been killed in violence linked to an insurgency in the region, according to Deep South Watch, a watchdog group. Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country but the Deep South is predominantly Muslim.
“I consider us all lucky that the state sees the importance of promoting sports and the potential to become professional football players in the future. I am really sure this is a fine idea, but I think we could get even better results if they made it an ongoing project,” Afnan said.
Thai Students who excel in football have more incentives than ever to aspire to jobs as professional footballers, following the last major expansion of the Thai Football League in 2009.
The system, based largely on the English EPL, has 18 teams in its elite Thai league. Sixteen more teams vie for promotion from the highly competitive Yamaha Division 1. The third tier includes the Division 2 Regional leagues, with more than 100 teams in eight divisions.
Despite the overwhelming popularity of football throughout Thailand, the country has yet to realize its dream of sending its national squad to FIFA’s World Cup.
It has won a slew of championships at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) but failed to claim a top-three finish in the more competitive Asian Games since its inception in 1951.


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