Pattaya Sports Club has a long tradition of promoting a number of sports among Thai children, including football, badminton, table tennis, volleyball, swimming and others. But we were recently given the opportunity to help The Redemptorist Vocational School for People with Disabilities to participate in fencing, a relatively new sport to the school.
It is no big surprise to find that those in wheelchairs do not give up on life and have a determination to succeed and are continually moving the goalposts, particularly in the field of sports as they participate in swimming, wheelchair basketball, tennis, volleyball, takraw and exercises in the gymnasium.
Pattaya Sports Club presents new fencing equipment to the Redemptorist Vocational School for People with Disabilities.
The Redemptorist school has always provided sports facilities to the students who have gone on to experience great success, taking part in provincial, national and international sporting competitions, and eight former students even competed at the 2012 Paralympics in London. At the National Games for the Disabled, the majority of competitors representing the province of Chonburi were students from the Pattaya school and most provinces will at least have one former student from the school in their team.
At the recent SEA Games for the Disabled, students from the Pattaya school were selected to represent Thailand in a number of sports including basketball, swimming, power lifting and track and field events, returning with many medals. Unfortunately, the fencing team was not able to attend for they were not able to practice and prepare for such a big competition due to lack of equipment.
The students show off their fencing skills.
A request was therefore made to Pattaya Sports Club for new and additional equipment to encourage the students to continue with this recent activity. Unfortunately, many of the students are left handed and most of the existing equipment is for right handed people. This situation was remedied when the purchase was made and at this month’s National Games 3 gold medals, 1 silver and 9 bronze medals were won and, with the new equipment the students can now prepare for the next SEA Games in Korea.
When delivering the equipment, representatives of Pattaya Sports Club were astonished at the skill levels and speed of the individuals and there is nothing that PSC enjoys more than to witness children having a great time, particularly those that have a disability. It is important to provide a number of different sports for the students for not only does sport keep the students fit and healthy, but it gives them a sense of achievement and belonging, which in turn builds confidence and self esteem.
Can you spare just a few hours per month? The fencing team has no recognized coach and would dearly love to have someone with experience to show them the finer points of the sport. If you need more information please contact Derek Franklyn on 085 286 9673 or William Macey on 086 152 2754.
