Never ending story of Korfball Development continues in Thailand with the persistent efforts of KAT and the support of IKF Asia and CTKA

Korfball Association of Thailand (KAT) once again justifies the IKF choice for being awarded 2019 IKF World Korfball Awards – the Best Grassroots Development to KAT. Less than a week after the wrap up of the IKF World Korfball Championship Ms. Bird Hsieh and Prof. Inglish Huang accompanied by 4 elite players of Chinese Taipei namely Ms Celin Lin, Ms. Ema Lin, Mr. Jason Chan, and Mr. Shen-chieh Wang representing the IKF Asia have started another intense education and promotion activities in Thailand from 17th to 25th August 2019.

Chinese Taipei Korfball Association (CTKA) as always, played a crucial role by supporting the activities and by bearing the costs towards international flights.

In the first phase of the activities IKF level 1 Coach Course was organised in Udonthani on 17 – 18 August. In this course, around 35 participants were enrolled with a background in the field of physical education (PE) teacher or basketball coach. Before the starting of the course, a ceremony of signing MoU between Sports Association of Udonthani Province represented by its President, Mr. Dr. Rung, and KAT represented by its President, Ms. Dr. Supranee Kwanboonchan (Tuk). Udonthani (renowned as a Sports City in Thailand), is one of five bidding hosts of 2025 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Thailand.

After the completion of the aforementioned coach course, the IKF Asia delegation immediately flew back to Bangkok to conduct the training camp in NBU for korfball players from various high schools and universities from 19 to 23 August as their preparations for the 2nd Thailand National Korfball Championships and a KAT’s scouting event for the selection of players of junior, youth, and senior national korfball teams for participating in the international tournaments in 2020.

In the morning of 23 August, Dr. Tuk arranged a communication meeting attended with the representatives of Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) from Thailand, Zhengzhou University (ZZU) from China, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and National Institute of Physical Education and Sport (NIPES) from Cambodia, and IKF Asia delegation from Chinese Taipei. The representatives discussed the near future korfball and academic exchange programs among SWU, ZZU, NIPES, and National Taipei University of Education (NTUE).
Mr. Prof. Prit Supasetsiri, Vice President of SWU was chair of the meeting. The chief delegates of Cambodian PE discussion and observation delegation were Mr. Bou Chumserey, Under Secretary of State, MoEYS and Ms. Dr. Hou Sitthissophealai, Deputy Director of NIPES. The delegate of ZZU was Mr. Xiangcheng MA, who is also the head coach of the China national korfball team.

On 23 August, a press conference was organised for promoting the 2nd Thailand National Korfball Championships to be held from 9 till 13 September. On this occasion, Prof. Inglish Huang handed over the 2019 IKF World Korfball Awards – the Best Grassroots Development to KAT, who was previously announced as the winner in the General Meeting of IKF on 9 August in Durban, South Africa.

In the last phase of the program, the IKF Asia delegation conducted another IKF Level 1 Coach Course in NBU on 24th & 25th August. There were approximately 40 PE teachers and coaches of primary schools, high schools, and universities participated in this course. The Cambodia delegation and Mr. Naoki Nishiyama (Japan) from Southeast Asia Office, NGO Hearts of Gold came to observe the training process of the course in the afternoon of 24th August.

Dr. Tuk hosted a social dinner for the overseas korfball friends in the evening. During the dinner, Mr. Bou Chumserey and Dr. Hou Sitthisophealai initially agreed to organize a korfball coach and referee courses with the cooperation and support of KAT and IKF Asia in the second week of December 2019. The face-to-face communication with Mr. Bou Chumserey has taken a concrete step of letting korfball included in the competition program of 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.

This abundantly educating and promoting the tour in Thailand could not be so successful without the tireless contribution of KAT’s core leaders. They are Dr. Tuk, Ms. Untika Thammaphati (Nok), Secretary-General of KAT, and Ms. Dr. Phichayavee Panurushthano (Aim), coach of Thailand national korfball squad.