The Thai Rugby Union is on the offensive. With Rugby being the last sport in the kingdom to be given permission to restart the T.R.U has come out firing!
With President Pol.Lt.Col. Kulthon Prachuabmoh’s new vision, The T.R.U is on the road. The Thailand Rugby Roadshow “Rugby On Tour Clinic”, that the Thailand Rugby Union has launched is a unique way to spread the rugby union code across the Kingdom. Having already done clinics in Ubon ratchathani province, Surat Thani province (Southern) & Bangkok (Central), Chiangmai was next on the list.
TRU President Pol.Lt.Col. Kulthon Prachuabmoh & his committee’s desire to invest in ‘growing the game’ throughout the land by taking the TRU to the people, will have a profound effect on the future of the game is this region.
Khun Atapol Wongratana, the current GM of the TRU has a strong passion for the game since he began all those years ago playing & coaching Vajiravudh College before taking over the reins of the national U 14s & U 19s. “The vision of the TRU & myself is to expand the number of players nationwide & to develop the skill set of coaches with the same values to prepare players & give them the opportunity of playing for the national team in the future” said Khun Atapol. “We would like to develop local coaches, physio, first aid staff and referees to be as far as possible the same or a similar standard to the national team”
Constituting a combination of training and education along with World Rugby’s ‘Get into Rugby’ program, quality coaching is being provided to all age groups young and old. Bringing along the men’s & Women’s National team players to assist in the coaching drills will no doubt inspire the youth of today to be the stars of tomorrow.
T.R.U Coaching Team Led by the Thailand National Coach and Ex All Black Legend Lote Raikabula
The Chiang Mai Rugby Clinic over the weekend of 15-16 August 2020 was a great success. With players & coaches from all around Chiang Mai and from as far afield as Nan the TRU coaching team were pleasantly surprised by the turnout and knew they had their work cut out. This wasn’t going to be a stroll in the park!
Led by Ex All Black legend Lote Raikabula they were up to the task & put both coaches & players through various drills & scenarios during the weekend and enhanced their knowledge and different ways of structuring coaching sessions. Each session conducted over the two days, consisted of a morning session in the classroom and afternoon session on the ground. When asked about his role Lote replied, “I just want to give back to the community and appreciate what rugby did for me. Makes me happy to see the kids smiling and I guess we can say we are achieving some goals”.
During the break Lote & his team of coach’s trained the national 7’s teams so the local kids and coaches could get a better idea on how to structure & what to expect from training sessions. The clinic was a fun weekend, well thought out and professionally run. It was great to see so many people both kids and adults, running around with smiles on their faces and there was more than one who found it sad that it had to come to an end.
Khun Atapol was “Pleased with the way the CM camp went & said that he hoped with better communication and exposure even more people will attend future events”. We will aim to start a youth rugby program in Chiang Mai soon.
Lote was enthusiastic in his praise for TRU president Pol.Lt.Col. Kulthon Prachuabmoh’s new vision who is the driving force behind this new & promising direction the TRU are taking especially after everything associated with the Covid19 lock down. He also praised the sponsors who have bought into the new vision as well because without them this wouldn’t work. Also a big hand to all the TRU coaching staff, S & C trainers & the players for a long road journeys to do the hard yards at the coaching clinics.
Lote Raikabula commented about the Rugby Roadshow “Our plan is to spread the game of Rugby all over the country. Also showing a bit of care and support to our provincial rugby community”.
“I emphasized to the union how important the provinces are. They are the backbone of Rugby in the country. If the grassroots is not taken care of there won’t be any talent coming through to the National team.”
Coach Raikabula added “We want to make sure the coaches in the different provinces are up to standard with rugby nowadays So we can play or have some good rugby played at the grassroots level, e.g Uni games, colleges and clubs”.
“Taking the National players with us (10 women’s, 10 men’s) on tour has definitely got us more attention during the clinic. As a coach, I train them at lunchtime in front of the local kids and coaches so now everyone can see them in the flesh not just on TV. We also want to bring some normality and smiles to the people in their provinces especially after the lockdown from the COV19.”
Next in line for the Thailand Rugby Roadshow “Rugby On Tour Clinic” are the Nakonratchasima & Chonburi clinics.
