A Rower Returning Something Special to the Sport

Thailand has only one rower who has achieved any notoriety ? Phuttharaksa Nikree is her name. She won the right to represent her country in the single sculls at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, and has just repeated this for the Athens Games, following the Asian Olympic Qualification Regatta in Shanghai. In the meantime she became a South East Asian Games champion and an Asian Games medallist ? very significant achievements in a country whose main sporting focus is on Asian regional events.

These successes have brought the 30 year old university graduate in Business Studies a little financial boost. Medallists at Asian Games get an incentive grant from the sports authorities, as well as the notoriety mentioned above through television and newspaper reports. But this has brought a radical new direction in her life as well.

Following some national television appearances, Nikree was approached by young girls in her country who decided that they wanted to emulate her; they wanted to become successful athletes and they wanted to row. With the modest money from her success, Nikree had purchased a small house in Pattaya, on the Thailand coast, where there is a lake for her to train on, and she opened up the doors of her house to four of the girls who contacted her. They came from very poor families, or were orphans, and they and she saw this as a chance to achieve something in their difficult lives.

No sooner had she settled arrangements to look after these girls aged 10, 14, 15 and 17, find school for them, feed them, coach them, teach them to swim, then young boys started arriving on her door step also wanting to use sport to advance in life and to become rowers. They were also from poor families or orphans and had travelled from the far corners of Thailand to pursue for themselves the opportunity they had seen.

Now her household consists of herself, the four girls and four boys aged 12, 13, 14 and 17.

She provides food, water, shelter, and support for them and they have effectively become at the same time her family and a junior rowing club. Nikree’s mother sends her rice from her home village in the mountains in north Thailand for the children. They and she cannot afford school during the week for them, so they work a few hours a day doing housework and gardening, and go to a free school on the weekends. They do home study as well during the week, and enthusiastically fit in training on and off the water. Nikree says they do three rowing sessions during the week, three kayaking sessions and three swimming/running/cycling sessions so they do not get bored. She and one of her former rowing partners are the coaches.

She has borrowed boats from the Rowing and Canoeing Association of Thailand ? 3 singles, 2 doubles, a kayak and a canoe-polo boat, but otherwise, she is the sole supporter of this motivated squad. They aim to row for their country. Nikree has attended meetings of the national sports authority for assistance for them, but as yet none has come. She remains hopeful.

But in the meantime, she uses just about all of her modest $US 150 per month salary from her job in the navy to support them, and herself in her Olympic quest. Her job in the navy involves supervising some of the navy’s agricultural enterprises, but she cannot work full time because of her training commitments ? and her extended family. The navy is very understanding.

However, she just can’t make ends meet. She needs about another $US 150-200 per month to keep the eight hungry rowers fed and clothed. Additionally, she wants to raise money to get them to a regatta in Singapore in June (a bus trip across Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore will cost $US 50 per person), wants to get them some more suitable boats, and wants to get a computer to assist in their home learning.

On top of this, Nikree thinks that she should accept an invitation to train with the Chinese Taipei team in Germany leading up to the Olympic Games and that makes it difficult for her to continue to fund the young rowers. But she feels obliged to do her best to represent her country effectively in Athens. Since her coach Gay Horan left Thailand to return home to New Zealand two years ago, she has not trained as well as she could. She feels she can work better with others aiming for the Olympics and this can happen with the Chinese Taipei team and in Germany. Fortunately, her former rowing partner can keep an eye on her rowing family.

Nikree’s own history is remarkable. She grew up in a small village in the mountains near the Myanmar border. There was no school in the village (her brother has since opened one) and she and her brother would trek down the mountains to the nearest school each week and also to work one day a week. At age 7 she started at a boarding school away from home. She had to learn Thai as her village language is different. She also learned some English, and her rowing has helped her to develop her English to a good standard.

From school she went on to university in Chiang Mai and graduated in Business Studies. From there she took on her navy job. She was a canoe-polo player until she was discovered by Gay Horan and her rowing career took off since then.

Now the eight members of her ?new family? want to follow her into the national team and to international success.

The charming and unassuming Nikree is proud of her rowing achievements and even more proud of her young charges. She does not complain about having to use her own money to support them but needs help for their sakes. 

A group of Australian rowers have set up a fund to assist Nikree’s project and other worthy rowing projects in Asia. If you or your club want to assist Nikree or other projects in Asian please contact john@sportbusiness.com.au.

What a great example this is of sport, and rowing in particular, assisting needy and spirited young people to achieve something in their lives, in a country where rowing is a long way from being a sport which is known, let alone well supported. Congratulations to Phuttharaksa Nikree.