The very macho Praputt “Duke” Kamlang-ek isn’t just the son of General Arthit Kamlang-ek. He’s taken his passion for sports and made it into a business and possibly a future source of national pride. He is chairman of the Football Association of Thailand’s beach soccer division, founder and director of the Thailand Footvolley Association and director of sport-biz companies Probis and Sportainment.

I discovered footvolley in Brazil. I was there with our beach football team when I saw people playing footvolley. It struck me that we might have the potential to play this sport, too. We are champions in takraw and these two sports have a lot in common.

I brought a Thai team to the 2003 International Footvolley Tournament. We lost every match.

I didn’t give up. I did further study, brought together national takraw players and, at our next tournament, we won our first match.

People were excited about our players’ skills and techniques. It was as if they were watching a virtuoso like Beckham. I began to believe that we could truly win with more practice.

We did improve. In 2005, we made fourth place twice. In 2006, we got onto the podium by placing third.

It’s not as easy as you might think. Our players have been practicing takraw since the age of eight and it’s definitely an advantage to be able to adapt that skill to footvolley. But if we made it to the top in only a few years, it’s because of our hard work, too.

I started loving sports when I was in prep school in England: football, rugby, cricket, hockey, etc. I was there from the age of eight through university.

I was kind of khun nuu growing up in Thailand. When I was at home, I didn’t have to do anything. I woke up, had breakfast and by the time I made it back to my room, the bed was already done.

In boarding school, I learned to work hard and play hard. I studied every day, did my homework every day, but I had time to play sports every day too. I was in the school team for every sport I played.

Nowadays, I don’t have time to play that hard. I mostly work hard. I usually finish work at 7 or 8pm. But I still play football with friends once a week and do some weight-lifting on the
weekend.

My last name was helpful when I first started. It made it easy to approach sponsors and present my projects to them. But beyond that head start, it was all up to me to deliver.

Our goal is to be world champion. It will happen sooner for footvolley than for beach football, but it will happen.

We need to build a pyramid of players. We need to plant the love of these sports in children and start building high school, university and professional leagues. If lots of kids play these sports, we will have more choices for our national teams.

“Football is for All” is the concept of my current project. It’s a football academy where everyone can have some fun. We will provide training, uniforms, leagues, after match parties and award ceremonies. It’s a project we’re working on with support from a big football club in England.

To improve the sport industry, we need stars like Zidane and Beckham. People are willing to pay to see big-name players.

But we shouldn’t put the spotlight only on individuals. It is difficult and very rare for sportsmen like Paradorn or Tong Sitchoi to appear. We should build a sport by attracting lots of quality players. That way, if one of our champions falls, we will have a replacement.

My goal in life is to make more time for myself.