After the victory of the women's national team against Japan last Saturday, volleyball fever has hit Thailand.
The team's win at the 2013 Asian Volleyball Championship has made Thais very happy at a time when the country faces economic problems and fear of flooding in many provinces.
Overjoyed, many of us still cannot stop discussing the volleyball victory and are still surfing the net to find more information about the players and their superb coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai. Many also follow Facebook fan pages of star players such as Nootsara Tomkom, Pleumjit Thinkaow, and Onuma Sittirak.
The triumph by the women's team has also made volleyball a rival to football as the country's most popular sport. The win will certainly inspire many youngsters to follow in the footsteps of our women's volleyball team.
Thailand can't compare with China in terms of population. But the team has made the country proud, having proved that with dedicated players and coaches we can excel nationally.
Who knows, perhaps our hope to see the players at the next Olympic Games among the world's top five volleyball teams may be fulfilled in the near future. But I don't want these hopes to remain just dreams for the women's volleyball team. It's time for the government to lend a hand to help the team reach the next level.
In fact, the government should be more committed to improving all sports for the country. What are the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports Ministry (MTOS) doing? What is the policy on sports development in Thailand?
We never see or hear substantial support for any sports, do we?
Every time Thai athletes win any world-class competition and make Thailand proud, their success has come primarily from their own hard work, and support mostly from private sponsorship.
What many top-level officials at the ministry and sports agency like to do is take photos with successful sports players to be in the limelight and ride the phenomenon.
But after that, nothing happens. The players and coaches have to help themselves again and find sponsors for financial support.
During the Yingluck government's first-year performance review, the Tourism and Sports Minister will definitely have some sports development achievements to announce. But we, the public, are not convinced. To start with, we rarely have sports facilities such as community gymnasiums or soccer fields near our homes.
Let's look at the annual budget of the MTOS. In 2013, the ministry received a budget of 9.18 billion baht, representing only 0.4% of the government's fiscal budget. The amount was down 10.5% from the year before _ about 5 billion baht reserved for sports activities.
But the 5-billion-baht budget is not small. The MTOS could use it to do many things to support sports activities and lay the groundwork for its future.
Sports development is necessary for the country. Economic development and high GDP growth are important, but sometimes the nation's health and happiness are related to our love for sport and other intangible achievements.
Many of our young people are waiting to shine if given the necessary support.
If our youngsters are active in sports, at least they will be healthy and make better use of their time than by staying glued to computer games or lured by negative social influences and drugs.
The old saying that "sport is the magic medicine" always rings true.
It's not too late for the government to think about the future of sports for Thailand. Where do we want to see ourselves in the next five years?
It's the government's duty and responsibility to come up with some big ideas for sports development, and then outline its policy and an execution plan.
The government, the MTOS and the SAT should brainstorm with experts to set goals for Thai sports.
They also need to cooperate with the Education Ministry because sports should be an important part of school children's lives. We must set goals for sports development and make them a reality.
Krissana Parnsoonthorn is Deputy Business Editor, Bangkok Post.