NAC BlogStudent LifeNovember 3, 2026
Ice Hockey in Thailand: How Two NAC Students Turned a Passion Into Tournament Success
Two NAC students, one tropical city, and what happens when children are encouraged to chase the passions that are truly their own.
When you think of Thailand, you probably picture warm weather, sunshine and pristine beaches. Snow and ice hockey are not usually on the list. Yet on October 9 and 10, two of our students traded flip-flops for skates and took the ice at the Bangkok Paradise 3-on-3 2026 tournament.
Their names are Pat and Prime. They play for different clubs, wear different jerseys, and chose a sport that almost nobody around them grew up playing. That last part is exactly why their story is worth telling.
Meet Pat
Pattima Aiyara, Grade 5
Pat did not just play in the tournament. Pat played a lot of it, competing in two divisions across ten games and finishing with numbers any coach would be glad to see.
- 4thU9 RecreationTier 1
- 4thU11 RecreationTier 2
Notice that Pat competed in two divisions at the same tournament. That means more games, more shifts and less rest. Saying yes to the extra challenge when you could stop at one is a habit worth more than any trophy.
Meet Prime
Prime helped the Raptors to a 4th place finish in Tier 1, battling through the bracket alongside his teammates.
- 4thTeam finishTier 1
Three-on-three hockey leaves nowhere to hide. With only three skaters a side, every player defends, every player attacks, and every shift depends on reading your teammates. A team result in that format belongs to each person on the ice, and Prime earned his share of it.
Different jerseys. Same NAC spirit.
Why the unusual passion matters
It would be easy to treat a story like this as a fun piece of school news. Two kids, a cold rink, a good result. But there is something more important underneath it.
Nobody hands a child in Bangkok an ice hockey stick by default. A sport like this has to be chosen, and then it has to be chosen again every early practice, every fall on the ice, and every game that does not go your way. A passion that a child picks for themselves, and keeps picking, builds a kind of motivation that no assignment can manufacture.
The courage to love something unusual is the same courage it takes to lead.
Pursuing an uncommon interest also teaches children to be comfortable being a beginner, to be the only one in the room who knows what a power play is, and to explain their world to people who have never seen it. These are not small skills. They are the early shape of the confidence, resilience and independent thinking we want every NAC graduate to carry into the world.
Look again at what Pat and Prime practiced at that tournament: teamwork with players from outside their school, composure under pressure, respect for opponents, and the discipline to keep training in a winter sport in one of the warmest cities on earth. None of that appears on a report card. All of it shows up in the classroom.
How families and schools can feed a passion
Whether your child loves hockey, coding, chess, dance, baking or something nobody has heard of yet, these are the ideas we hold on to at NAC.
Follow their lead
The best passions are discovered, not assigned. Pay attention to what your child returns to on their own, and ask questions about it before offering opinions.
Celebrate effort, not only results
Fourth place is not a podium. It is still ten games of showing up, skating hard and supporting a team. Praise the commitment, and the results take care of themselves.
Let unusual be normal
Children notice quickly when their interests seem strange to adults. Treat a niche passion with the same respect as a popular one, and they learn that being different is not a problem to fix.
Connect it back to learning
Every passion is full of lessons. Hockey has statistics, physics, strategy and teamwork. When children see school and passion as connected, both get stronger.
Make it visible
Share their story. When we celebrate a student's achievement outside school as loudly as one inside it, every other student learns that their passions count too.
Built a little differently
To Pat and Prime: we are so proud of your hard work, your teamwork, and your courage to chase something you love, even when that love requires a winter wardrobe in Thailand.
And to every NAC student with a passion that does not quite fit the forecast: keep going. We are cheering for you too.
Lead Today. Serve Others. Shape Tomorrow.
