Four athletes who won their knowledge of the system the hard way discuss some of the problems facing the island's sportsmen and women as they prepare themselves physically and mentally to "go for gold."
Happy Kids are Healthy Kids
Shih Jui-chang , 50, is a physical education teacher at Lung Hua High School, Kaohsiung.
I've been teaching school for about twenty-seven years now. People always say that kids who study music won't turn out bad, but as far as I'm concerned, the children who like to exercise are the ones who stay healthy. And to see my students happy and healthy is my major teaching objective, and the greatest joy teaching gives me.
The primary aim where elementary and high school students are concerned is to build up a strong physique, because this is a critical period in their development. If they manage to form good sports habits during that period, their academic studies and lives in general are bound to benefit in the days to come.
Nowadays, however, most parents overindulge their children. They don't ask them to do their share of housework, they take them to school in the car every morning and pick them up again in the evening, and allow them to eat whatever they want--hamburgers and fries, for instance. Today's children don't get much chance to burn off the calories. No wonder various studies have shown that the standard of physical fitness of Taiwan students is on a gradual decline. This worries me a lot. It should be getting a lot more attention from schools, parents, and the students themselves.
Sports in schools are the basis of physical education, so discovering how best to promote them stands out as the most important task facing the authorities. In my opinion, we need to come at this problem from a lot of different angles. These include instilling proper notions about sports in the minds of teachers and students, upgrading the quality of PE teaching staff, safeguarding the right of students to participate in sports, which is enshrined in the common curriculum, and organizing games both in and outside schools. We also need to consider diversifying teaching content and methods, publicizing sports by any means possible, and strengthening evaluations of individual schools' sports performance.
I'd like to see more scientific data given to teachers and students, to help them understand the importance and the effects of physical education. Schools need to offer more channels--for example, on-the-job training, advanced studies in higher schools, and organizing teaching demonstrations in a bid to cultivate excellence in the staff. And schools have no right whatsoever to deprive students of the chance to participate in PE courses and extracurricular activities under the guise of forcing them to concentrate on their academic studies to better their chances of a higher education.
PE teachers are going to have to diversify their teaching materials and utilize more lively methods if they want to equip students with the proper knowledge and skills they need to develop an ongoing interest in physical activities, one that will last them all their lives. I think they should make better use of audio and video equipment to show sports -related films to students, or invite sports professionals or outstanding athletes to the school.
In the past, every student was required to receive the same kind of PE training. But now we've made some modifications to the teaching methods, and we place greater emphasis on tailoring programs to individual needs, interests, and physical abilities. First we seek to find out about our students' state of health--do they have heart problems, for example, or suffer from asthma? Once they embark on a program, we constantly remind them not to try to exceed their physical capacities.
Ever since I was a child, I've been extremely interested in various sports--basketball, tennis, swimming--and I've always been pretty good at them. But in the early days my parents were kind of reluctant to let me play sports, because they thought I couldn't earn a living that way. It was only after I went to National Taiwan Normal University and studied to become a teacher that they dropped their objections.
Things have changed a lot, let's face it. People who are good at sports have many career opportunities. It's not just that they can feed themselves; they may even become celebrities, enjoying fame and fortune. Because exercise and sports are getting so much more popular these days, sports professionals can teach in schools or even business organizations. They can find work at athletic training centers and health clubs, or join one of the professional leagues. Currently, it's not uncommon for a star baseball player to earn NT$200,000 to $300,000 (US$6,450 to $9,675) a month. All these developments, I think, have had a positive impact on the promotion of physical education. I really feel glad I've had the chance to witness such a transformation.
Learning ought to be a lifelong objective, but many people get out of the habits of reading and doing sports once they leave school. That's a great pity. I hope that the active promotion of PE in schools will become a means of raising the popularity of sports on the island, until eventually we reach a point where everyone is exercising on a regular basis. That will improve the overall physical fitness of the population and boost our national competitiveness as well.
Overall, I'm satisfied with the way things are going as regards physical education at my school. The students are showing greater interest in PE courses, and they seem more active and lively than their predecessors.
What's good about being a PE teacher? The best part of it is that I can exercise while I'm working. I stay fit and get paid for it. What could be better than that?
Moving the Goal Posts
Lee Ming-jung , 49, is a physical education professor at the National Taiwan College of Physical Education.
I've been teaching physical education for almost twenty years now, for the last five I've been director of the Department of Recreational Sports. My principal responsibilities are helping train specialists in recreational sports coaching, planning, management, and promotion. I really do believe that recreational sports are the key to bringing people in today's society closer to a balanced, knowledgeable life.
In the past, physical education programs were set up to train athletes for national and international events. But now that society has changed and recreational sports are becoming so important, the goals of physical education courses must change also. In the near future we're increasingly going to see modern management techniques employed to integrate physical education studies with career planning in general.
The biggest problem with recreational sports right now is that there just isn't enough room. People here tend to go for activities that are conveniently housed nearby, such as karaoke parlors and dance clubs. Gambling games like mahjong are also popular, and it's no wonder with all this to find that juvenile crime is increasing. I know society is facing more stress than ever, but there are more appropriate ways of dealing with it. We have to realize that camping, hiking, fishing and cycling are better ways to relax. In order to achieve a balanced life, you have to make time for healthy activities as well as your career.
The development of recreational activities in Taiwan is basically static, while people in other countries such as the United States enjoy more dynamic and educational experiences. Going to a national park for a tour is one recreational direction more people here could follow. The government really needs to put more effort and resources into promoting healthier activities, and teachers need to bring children closer to nature. This is a very important part of a solid education--examination papers aren't everything.
In the past, we didn't really have very many recreational resources. Now, however, there seems to be an overabun dance, and the question is, how are we going to manage them? One sad thing is that the more populated areas have better sporting facilities than those found in rural parts of Taiwan. The government needs to pay more attention to this disparity. It should also be thinking about how to better utilize the wonderful outdoors this island is blessed with. Taiwan's natural environment is truly gorgeous. It's up to us to decide how to make best use of it, and for that the government needs to cooperate closely with local inhabitants and recreational interest groups.
Escaping the Stereotype
Wang Hui-chen , 30, a former national-level sprinter, retired from sports after participating in the last Taiwan Area Games (renamed the National Games in 1999) in October of 1998. An Asian Games gold medalist and Taiwan's record holder in the women's 200-meter race, Wang now owns a studio in Taipei where she teaches patchwork.
I was put on a track training schedule when I was about seventeen. My father didn't agree too much with that, as a lot of people here scoff at athletics, although this is changing a bit now. Parents prefer their children to take up painting or music as a hobby, not sports. Many people here believe that if a child's good at sports he must be doing badly in school. As a result, it's hard to recruit intellectually gifted children to become athletes. I think both coaches and athletes need to think about why the public has this impression.
Perhaps these feelings have to do with the way coaches at elementary and high schools do their training. I think children need to focus on other pursuits besides sports. According to my fellow athletes, most of their coaches, at least when I was racing, ordered them to focus all their energy on sports training. Their thinking was that if you were completely devoted to training, you'd be admitted to a sports college. This is not the way to go. You need to develop a second specialty, because it's impossible to be an athlete all your life. Young athletes should devote time to their studies so that in college they can try something other than sports. Actually, I wouldn't recommend an athlete to study in colleges that specialize in sports. They may have a hard time finding a job after they graduate--there are already too many PE teachers.
I majored in International Trade at Chengchi University, because I wanted everybody to know that athletes can still graduate from a prestigious school that doesn't trumpet its sports department. I'm an exception in Taiwan, but the fact is that many top foreign athletes don't major in sports. Hey, an athlete doesn't have to fit the stereotype of an athlete. Athletes aren't people who happen to be physically well-developed but have empty minds. You need a good brain to do well in sports.
I don't think it's right to force elementary and junior-high students to train unless it's a field where it's best to start early, such as gymnastics. You can take up track and field later in life and continue to compete even past the age of thirty-five. Whenever I've been invited to give lectures in elementary schools or junior highs, I often tell those little athletes to look at sports as a game and just enjoy them. Coaches may think otherwise and put pressure on those students to reach certain goals, but that's just so they'll get the credit later.
Another problem here is that many athletes can't endure the hardships of training. There's no way we can compete with mainland China's rigorous athletic programs. But it's also true that many children here fail to fully devote them selves to the training schedule. I don't mean they should give up everything to train, but I believe you can do well in sports and in school at the same time. An athlete who says training is the cause of his or her bad grades is just making excuses. I never went to practice during classroom time, I'd go at around five, after school, and stick with it until eleven at night. Most people use that time to go out and have fun with their friends, but I used it to train.
Life isn't easy for athletes and their coaches. Before I became successful, my coach had to absorb all of the training expenses unless we joined one of the special training camps in Tsoying (southern Taiwan) that are held before a big meet. A lot of people say coaches are stupid to absorb training expenses, but they have their ideals. Some people think the prize money given to Taiwanese athletes who win medals in major events is excessive, but I don't think so. I think we deserve even more. We have to put a lot of time and money into training before anybody starts to notice us.
If an athlete is unlikely to win any medals, he or she usually doesn't get much attention from the government. When I was in the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics, I felt our officials didn't really care about us track and field athletes. We were unlikely to win any medals, but I think all athletes have potential. You can't ignore them just because you think they have no hope at present. How can you be sure that person won't catch up and become a champion in ten years' time? I never thought I'd be winning gold medals at the Asian Games and Universiade (international university games). Every athlete matures through trial and error, and cultivating a champion is a long-term project. Attention needs to be apportioned equally between all athletes.
To tell you the truth, I don't like to exercise, and I don't jog anymore. When people told me at the age of seventeen that I had the potential to be a sprinter, I was willing to give training a try. I didn't like it much, and at first I didn't really understand what was involved in working out. But even though I occasionally got frustrated, I never thought about backing off. I just wanted to achieve my goals, so I was kind of resigned to always doing what my coach told me.
Now that I've retired, I'm not interested in coaching--an ex-athlete doesn't necessarily make a good coach. I wanted to do something totally different. When I was a senior at Chengchi University I set aside some time from classes and training to learn the art of patchwork from the Japanese Handicraft Instructors Association. I've just received its certification, which allows me to teach patchwork in Taiwan. You don't have to limit your life to just one career. I'll do something different in the future if I have time to learn a new trade, but right now I think that doing and teaching patchwork will always be my favorite job.
Keeping One's Eye on the Ball
Huang Chen-hua, 32, is a table-tennis coach at the Oriental Institute of Technology in Panchiao, Taipei County.
In 1996, I headed a three-member team that went to the Atlanta Paralympic Games. I burst into tears when one of my team members won the bronze medal. They weren't tears of happiness, far from it. I cried because I felt guilty and disappointed.
This contestant was a very gifted young man, and I'd expected him to get the gold. But because I let him down, he turned in a worse-than-expected performance. The thing was, I'd failed to check whether the rubber used in the manufacture of his paddle had been approved by the International Table Tennis Federation, as required. We only found out about the problem just before the competition began, and he was forced to change paddles. It affected his performance, no doubt about it.
That night, I looked deep inside myself, and afterward I asked my team to relax and not care too much about winning or losing. But the next day, another team member unexpectedly won a bronze medal, too. That nice surprise taught me a valuable lesson: wins and losses, ups and downs, are all part of the vicissitudes of life, and we should try to accept them with equanimity. And it often happens that when we don't care too much about the outcome, we end up doing better. It's very important for athletes to cultivate a carefree attitude, because they can be called on to cope with failure anytime and anywhere.
About seven years ago, I got involved in a program for training physically challenged athletes to play table tennis. At that time, it all seemed quite simple. I wanted to put my time and expertise to use in a way that would benefit society. I thought table tennis was going places in the international arena, since it had found a niche in several international competitions, like the Olympics and the Asian Games. So in addition to coaching at the school, I've spent a lot of time working for the Chinese Taipei Sports Federation for the Disabled.
It isn't easy to be a coach, or an athlete, come to that. Before a contest, we have to conduct a very intense training program, which can last for anything from a month to half a year. It's a tough and painful process, and not many people can stay the course. So we don't have a lot of players, and that worries me. Then again, it's hard to find suitable venues for training, because some people think that the wheels of the contestants' chairs will damage the floor.
Nonetheless, in recent years I've seen more and more disabled people taking part in sports and games, while an increasing number of enthusiasts are devoting themselves to the promotion of disabled sports. That's a very good sign. As I understand it, more disabled people play table tennis than any other sport. That makes me feel good. It gives me a great sense of achievement.
It hasn't left me much spare time, though. For years now I've been teaching at the college and at the same time I've been tied up with training athletes, heading delegations abroad, organizing sporting events, competitions, and seminars, to say nothing of the administrative work of the federation, which takes up my nights and weekends. To be honest, I'm starting to feel a bit tired. I need to take a rest and recharge my batteries, ready for the challenges ahead.
So I've decided to gradually hand over my federation work to other professionals and go back to Chinese Culture University, where I got my bachelor's degree. I'll be pursuing advanced studies in the Graduate Institute of Sport Coaching Science, and I hope that over the next two or three years I'll be able to pick up some more knowledge, get some practical training to consolidate my skills, and bolster the theoretical foundation. I often tell my students that in order to get ahead in this increasingly competitive society they must discover their forte and make it outstanding. The field doesn't matter. As for me, I'm aiming to cultivate a second specialty, so that I can upgrade my abilities and thus give myself more and better career options.
I think that in the future, the training that I'll be involved in will be aimed more at the general public, rather than a few select athletes. I see sports as a means of equipping people with happiness and healthy bodies. But for dedicated athletes, the training process is actually very painful. I think the promotion of sports, including physical education in schools, should get back to basics, to the original goals of recreation and entertainment, instead of all-out competition. So after I'm through with my graduate studies, I plan to devote myself to promoting the concept of "sports for all." I hope that one day everyone will be able to lead a happy and healthy life like me, through proper exercise.