Competing under the jurisdiction of Kathu Municipality, the young male and female athletes will be battling it out with other districts from the southern region of Thailand at the 38th annual edition of the Local Administrative Organisation Student Sports Competition of Thailand, Southern Level Qualifying Round.
Running from tomorrow (July 1) until July 10th, this specific edition is also being referred to as the “Thung Song Junction Games”, an affectionate nod to the well known railway station in the Thung Song District of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
On Friday, Kathu Mayor Wannayut Suthikul delivered a motivational speech at the Kathu City Council building to all the competing athletes, as well as their trainers, coaches, teachers and officials.
Mr Wannayut stressed the importance of the competition in helping develop key social skills, confidence and self-esteem among athletes, while promoting the merits of team work and the appreciation of sporting values such as winning and losing and with grace and dignity.
Furthermore, Mayor Wannayut emphasised how the competition is a great opportunity for the young athletes to develop and potentially forge out a career in the professional arena.
He also reminded the entire delegation representing Kathu Municipality to show respect at all times by adhering to all rules and regulations governing the competition and to show good sportmanship at all times.
Following his speech, Mayor Wannayut distributed sporting uniforms to the athletes in addition to a cheque to team officials that is to be used as a budget to support the trip and their sporting endeavours.
The official report on the Phuket PR Facebook page made no exact mention of the age range of the student athletes, the overall number of students participating or the specific school(s) they are representing. Similarly there was no specific mention of the exact sports to be contested, although they are thought to be aligned to standard athletics.