Taiwan Today

Taiwan’s sports universities are preparing students for careers away from the playing field.

In 1979, Kao Chin-hsung (高俊雄), now 51 years old and president of National Taiwan Sport University (NTSU) in Taoyuan County, northern Taiwan, was a high school swimmer specializing in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle events. He qualified to represent what was then Taipei County in the Taiwan National Games and was invited to train for the event. “But my parents told me, ‘If you take on this training, you will have no time to study for the college entrance exam,’” he says. Kao participated in the competition, but eventually decided to honor his parents’ wishes by concentrating solely on academics, a move that paid off when he gained admission to Fu Jen Catholic University, a prestigious school in New Taipei City. He earned a business degree at Fu Jen, then acquired a master’s degree in business administration from Chinese Culture University in Taipei City and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in the United States.

When Kao returned to Taiwan to find a teaching position, however, he chose to work at NTSU, a physical education university, instead of a business school. “To me, that compensated for the loss I felt when I was in high school,” Kao explains. “But I decided to do this not just for myself, but also to help today’s generation of athletes pursue their dreams.”

Today the emphasis on “sports education” at Taiwan’s sports universities is shifting from “sports” to “education.” That is a notable development because not so long ago, the sole purpose of such schools was preparing local athletes to win gold, silver or bronze medals at international competitions, whereas now the curriculum also focuses on preparing students for sports-related careers.

In 2010, roughly 1,500 students earned physical education-related degrees from Taiwan’s three dedicated sports colleges. The oldest of those institutions is National Taiwan College of Physical Education (NTCPE), which opened its doors in 1961 in Taichung, central Taiwan. Taipei Physical Education College (TPEC) began accepting students in 1968 in downtown Taipei and has since relocated to a new campus in the city’s suburb of Tianmu. NTSU was founded in 1987 and is perched on a grassy hilltop outside Taoyuan. More recently, a half-dozen universities including Fu Jen and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) have also begun offering degree programs in sports-related fields.

From the time they opened in the 1960s, NTCPE and TPEC were essentially “medal mills.” TPEC’s president, Jeng Fang-fann (鄭芳梵), a 32-year veteran of the school, says “It was the age of sports diplomacy, and sports were politically directed.”

Jeng began his athletic career playing volleyball, but soon realized that progressing as a player would be difficult. “I am only 169 centimeters tall, and that was too short to play for the national team—the average height is above 185 centimeters—so early on I started coaching,” he explains. Jeng found coaching success in 1974 and 1975 when, as a volunteer, he took Taipei’s Xisong Elementary School’s boys volleyball team to two consecutive national championships. Later, he was invited by the Republic of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coach Uruguay’s men’s team for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Even better, Jeng coached Taiwan’s team at the Asian Junior Men’s Volleyball Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1988. “We beat China 3–2,” Jeng says, “and back here at home that was really big news.”

Elite athletes enjoyed coveted privileges in the medal mill era. Hsu Kuang-piao (許光麃), who is dean of academic affairs in the Department of Physical Education and Graduate Institute of Physical Education at NTCPE, remembers traveling abroad when Taiwan was still under martial law (1949–1987). “Most people couldn’t leave the country back then,” Hsu says.

Hsu’s athletic background is in running. He spent his undergraduate years at a Taipei technical college, dutifully but unhappily preparing for a career in mechanical engineering. He took solace in running and found unexpected success when he smashed his school’s record for the 10-kilometer run in his freshman year. Three decades later, he still holds the record with a time of 31 minutes and 27 seconds. Hsu’s running achievements prompted him to shift his university focus from engineering to athletics, and by 1987 he was representing Taiwan in cross country races in Warsaw, Poland and in marathons in Seoul, South Korea and Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

Multidisciplined

The single-minded focus on national prestige began to wane at local sports colleges in the late 1980s, a time of rapid social change in Taiwan. When martial law was lifted in 1987, removal of restrictions on the media soon followed. Cable television began to flourish and channels such as ESPN brought international sports events into the living room, while domestic channels such as Weilai Sports did the same with local baseball, basketball and more. Taiwan’s economy was also booming at the time, which boosted household income and created a growing middle class, members of which began developing an interest in fitness and leisure sports.

To adapt to the changing role of sports in Taiwan, NTSU, NTCPE and TPEC also began to evolve. In 1996, for example, TPEC was upgraded to a four-year college, and in 1998, the university was reorganized into multiple departments, including those for aquatics, athletics, ball sports, dance, martial arts, and recreation and sports management. In 1999, TPEC launched a graduate program in sports science, and more recently master’s programs have been opened in the areas of dance, recreation and sports management, sports performance, sports pedagogy and sports technique. To this mix, in 2007 TPEC opened its Graduate Institute of Physical Education and Health and added a doctoral program in kinesiology.

Of course, outstanding athletic achievement is still rewarded at sports universities. “Medals are still medals,” Jeng says. “But what if you only played on a national team? What do you do next?” he asks, speaking of the athletes at the schools who do not find success in international competition. “At TPEC, we put a lot of emphasis on the student’s minor subject, and we offer an environment in which they have many choices, so that the student can explore their interests and find their own way in the sports field,” Jeng explains. “The career of  elite athletes is brief, so making sure that they have a skill set to rely on is of the utmost importance.”

The movement of Taiwan’s sports colleges toward more diversified curricula is a career lifesaver for students due to the high attrition rate in competitive sports, Kao says. “Take, for example, the 600 students in our sports programs,” he says. “Only 200 of them may achieve a gold or silver medal at national level competitions. Only 50 of them might do so at the Asian Games level, and only 10 might be able to compete in an Olympic event. If students are in their last year at NTSU and don’t have any medals, we encourage them to participate in on-campus programs that earn certifications to enhance their future job prospects.”

In fact, students pursuing degrees in athletic performance are becoming a minority at Taiwan’s sports colleges. Of the 400 students currently enrolled in NTSU’s undergraduate programs, for example, 160 major in athletic performance, while the majority are working toward degrees in sports education, health or recreation and leisure management.

Most students also declare a minor in their junior or senior year. Students in non-competition programs can minor in a field related to their major. A student majoring in health, for example, might select a sub-discipline like elder care. But for athletic performance students, the choice of a minor also offers the possibility of a sports- or fitness-related career should their competition results fall short.

Sports university students also benefit from certifications earned in on-campus seminars and training programs that are offered in conjunction with Taiwan’s numerous sports-related associations. Nearly 300 associations devoted to everything from golf course management to sporting goods manufacturing are listed by the Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council. During the current school year, for example, Kao says several NTSU students chose to take a golf management certificate practicum with the Taiwan Society for Sport Management (TASSM). Some of them were on the scene at the Sunrise LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) Championship, which took place in Taiwan in October 2011. “They participated in the organization of the event, and the certificate they received [from TASSM] could lead to later employment as golf pros, coaches or even golf course managers,” Kao says.

NTCPE’s Hsu is a believer in the opportunities students can gain by working with Taiwan’s many sports associations. “Students don’t have to wait until declaring a minor during their junior or senior year to participate in the educational programs offered by these groups,” Hsu says. “They can get involved in their freshman year.” One especially active association is the Taiwan Athletic Trainers Society (TATS), which provides on-campus seminars and off-campus testing that lead to certification.

Hsu’s advice for students to get involved in certification programs as early as possible appears sound given the changing career opportunities for sports university graduates. Physical education (PE) teacher jobs—which several generations of NTSU, NTCPE and TPEC graduates used to be able to rely on—are disappearing. “Taiwan is graying,” TPEC’s Jeng says. “Eleven percent of the population is already older than 65, and last year Taiwan had the world’s lowest birth rate—less than one baby per woman.” As a result, overall school enrollment is dwindling and the demand for PE teachers along with it.

Increasing Interest

The good news is that even if the number of physical education jobs in schools continues shrinking in the coming years, Taiwan’s growing passion for fitness and leisure sports is likely to create new career opportunities. “Interest in sports is increasing, and every morning everyone is in the park,” Jeng says. His observation is backed by statistics, as of the 22,580 people around Taiwan who completed a 2009 survey on “sports participation” released by the Sports Affairs Council, 80.5 percent of the respondents claimed to exercise regularly.

Today, Taiwan’s sports universities are no longer dedicated solely to turning out champions such as Chi Cheng (紀政), a female hurdler who won a landmark bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, or Taiwan’s silver medal-winning baseball team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. While those athletes are still celebrated, the shift in focus is actually good news for students enrolled at the universities, as very few athletes are able to compete at such a high level. Instead, the universities are also helping students find a place in the fitness and leisure sports industries, giving them a wider range of career opportunities than ever before.

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Glenn Smith is a freelance writer based in Taipei.

Copyright © 2012 by Glenn Smith

Wang Chin-fang, Judo Athlete

Wang Chin-fang (王沁芳), 28, grew up as a good girl in a bad neighborhood. Taipei’s Wanhua District was noted for its teenage gangs, and after her mother’s death, Wang was raised by her father, who was in the military. “Kids were sent to after-school classes to keep them out of trouble, and it was kind of like having a babysitter,” Wang says. In fourth grade, she took up judo. Her physical prowess stood out and she started winning competitions. “By high school, judo was a job,” she recalls. “If you got medals, you received a financial reward.”

In high school, Wang competed in her current weight class, 63 kilograms, and scored her first international wins—a silver medal at the 2000 Asian U20 Championships in Hong Kong and a bronze at the 2001 East Asian Games in Osaka, Japan. Her first gold medal came at the Asian U20 Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2001 during her freshman year in NTNU’s Department of Athletic Performance. That success was followed by two silvers and two bronzes during her college years. Post-graduate work took Wang to TPEC’s Graduate Institute of Sport Technique, where her medal-winning streak continued with gold medals at the 2009 Universiade Belgrade in Serbia and at the 2010 East Asian Championships in Macau.

Today, Wang is a lecturer at TPEC. As a teacher, she knows that medals are important, but she also strives to keep the bigger picture in mind. “Young athletes obsess over their sports goals and how to achieve them, but as a coach you must look at their broader personal development,” she says.

Ray Chen, Super Basketball League Player

Ray Chen’s (陳子威) junior high school did not have a basketball team. But when a newspaper article appeared about a neighboring school winning a local tournament, his mother arranged for him to transfer there, and today Chen, who is 26 years old and stands 200 centimeters tall, plays for the Dacin Tigers in Taiwan’s semi-professional Super Basketball League (SBL). “My mother put me on this track,” Chen says.

After junior high, Chen attended one of Taipei’s basketball powerhouse high schools, from which he was recruited for the SBL. Chen accepted the offer to play in Taiwan’s top basketball league, but he also decided to attend classes at NTNU, where he went on to earn a physical education degree.

Although privileged to play a sport he loves, Chen understands that the clock is ticking. “In the NBA [National Basketball Association], players’ careers last into their late 30s and even 40s, but in the SBL retirement comes earlier, say 30 to 35,” Chen says. “Here, players are shorter so it is a game of speed. If you slow down, you end up on the bench.”

After his playing days are done, Chen hopes to secure a teaching job at a university or high school. In the meantime, he offers sound advice to those who aspire to a career in sports. “Set high goals, but if you can’t achieve them, move on,” he says. “You don’t have to be an athlete to be in sports. Sports is a big field and there are plenty of things to do.”

Allen Chien, Gymco President

For nearly two decades, Allen Chien (簡祈昌), 50, has been head of Gymco Sports Ltd., one of Taiwan’s biggest sporting goods and fitness equipment suppliers. “We import the big brands used by five-star hotels and major gym franchises,” Chien says.

Chien’s current success is a far cry from his impoverished childhood in the town of Fulong on Taiwan’s northeast coast. “I was a country kid. I spent a lot of time outdoors and worked jobs as a laborer,” he recalls. “Life was pretty physical.” In 1977, Chien decided he wanted to become a physical education teacher, but knew getting accepted by a sports university program would not be easy. He was confident he could pass the academic portion of TPEC’s entrance exam, but knew he had to overcome the lack of an athletic resume. He therefore spent six months training for the 800-meter run, and when TPEC held a tryout at that distance, he was first across the finish line, giving him a chance to enter the school.

As he lacked funds for tuition, Chien was a work-study student from 1979 to 1984 at Tetragon, a now defunct sporting equipment company founded by Chi Cheng. “Working at Tetragon was my first contact with the business world,” Chien says, “and it changed my choice of career.” Chien founded Gymco in 1993. Despite his busy schedule, he found time to return to TPEC in 2005 to earn a master’s degree in Leisure and Recreation Sport Management, an experience to which he attributes at least part of his company’s success. “It helped me gain an understanding of the government’s strategy for leisure and recreation, and where the market for sporting equipment was headed,” he says.