Hope Floats: How youth soccer team was born on a floating village

Mar 22, 2011, 10:03 AM EDT

A little island in south Thailand called Koh Panyee is the site of one of the most inspirational sports stories I’ve ever seen (video below). Koh Panyee is a small floating village, so when the kids there decided they wanted to start a soccer team, they literally had to build one out of wood, like a giant raft. When you play soccer on a wooden raft you have to avoid exposed nails, and the ball tends to go into the water a lot. But as you’ll see, that can be a good thing.

The short film below is the true story of the 1986 soccer team that was literally built from scratch in the middle of the water, and has grown into one of the best youth soccer organizations in Thailand. From the YouTube description:

TMB (Thai Military Bank) have launched a new brand vision “Make THE Difference” by making a film to inspire people to start thinking differently. With a hope that they will start to Make THE Difference to their own world. It doesn’t have to be big, but a little can create positive changes. This film is based on a true story. In 1986 a football team that lived on a little island in the south of Thailand called “Koh Panyee”. It’s a floating village in the middle of the sea that has not an inch of soil. The kids here loved to watch football but had nowhere to play or practice. But they didn’t let that stop them. They challenged the norm and have become a great inspiration for new generations on the island.