The Man She Begged to Coach the National Team

Last January when Chi Cheng, factoral general of the Chinese Taipei Track and Field Association, announced Ch'en Ting-hsiung's enstatement as head coach for the national track and field team, other field specialists were staggered with amazement. Ch'en, who is 44 years old this year, is not, however, by any means a stranger to the athletic arena, especially as concerns his fellow physical educators. In 1976 he took up a teaching position at the Taiwan Provincial Junior College of Physical Education in Taichung, with physical education administration and philosophy of sports as his specialties. He has done essential research into the stamina of athletes, and the many concerning stamina as the fundamental factor in sports have been widely circulated in physical education circles.

His love for and dedication to soccer are especially renowned in these circles. He started kicking the ball around at the age of thirteen, and "in the last thirty years there hasn't been a minute that I haven't been on the soccer field," as Ch'en himself puts it. Precisely because of this long affiliation with soccer, many people felt that he was surely ringing the wrong bell when he stuck his soccer-spike clad foot in at the door of track and field. They simply could not understand why Chi Cheng would recommend a total outsider for the position of head coach.

"I didn't recommend him, I beseeched him," Chi Cheng explains. "I went to him in all sincerity and begged him to come," she says, an excited tone entering into her already rapid speech as the subject turns to Ch'en Ting-hsiung. "He is a type of man who is hard to find in this field, a man of unyielding ideals."

As Chi Cheng has pointed out, the methods of fundamental training for any type of athletic activity will not vary too widely. "With the excellent way he handles a soccer team, I feel confident that his performance on the track will be no less great," she said. "Technique is easy to teach; it's spirit and discipline that are hard to learn. In Taiwan, coaches who are truly able to teach these two facets of athletics are few and far between."

Ch'en Ting-hsiung has his own kind of illogical logic concerning athletics: "Sports are nothing more than physical education; physical education equals education; and education requires farsighted planning." As he sees it, if development in physical education cannot be seen from the standpoint of a long-term process, then there is no need to talk about it at all.

As a former student of physical education administration, Ch'en is fully aware that a high pressure, drill-sergeant approach does not allow team members to train with confidence. He feels that the point of most importance is to help them to put all their worries aside.

At Tsoying Athletic Training Center, where Ch'en Ting-hsiung is fulfilling his duties as head coach of the track and field team, the gathering together of various team members of differing ages and differing needs, their schooling and their employment can all present problems. "I hope to serve for them as a bridge," says Ch'en. Therefore, he has taken upon himself the responsibility of acting as their spokesman, often falling back on his pet quips "Our best athletes get only US$1.50 a day for pocket money" and "Athletes and coaches have no escape, life offers us no guarantees" in offering a reflection of center conditions to the news media, or to the powers that be.

Under Ch'en's leadership, some basic problems have gotten responses. For example, the daily allowance of pocket money for center athletes has been increased to US$3. Although this is still an objectionably small amount, it is nevertheless an improvement. In addition to this, medical insurance coverage for all team members, lifetime salaries for outstanding athletes, and other such benefits are all currently under discussion.

As far as training itself is concerned, Ch'en hopes to work "from the roots up," and to this purpose has conducted an analysis of the physical builds and personal dispositions of all team members. Based on his many years of experience, Ch'en has induced a number of general principles. For instance, those with broad shoulders are powerful, while those with long necks are limber and resilient. Long, thin, horselike calves are the mark of a runner; large jaw bones indicate aggressiveness; and those who tilt their heads back when in a squatting position are strong jumpers. Ch'en has proven these principles over and over again, they seem to tally surprisingly well.

"Most of the candidates accepted at the training center possess some sort of special merit in their physical build or disposition, but there are also deficiencies. My purpose in conducting these tests is to help them to understand themselves," Ch'en explains.

Chen's old-fashioned, rather unscientific testing methods have brought great results in at least one instance, that being the molding of heptathlon superstar Wang Shu-hua. Wang, who is just eighteen years old this year, came to the Tsoying training center with the long jump as her exclusive speciality. After testing, Ch'en discovered that her potentials seemed to be distributed quite evenly throughout all events, and that her motivation to exercise was also quite strong, so he encouraged her to change over to the heptathlon.

When the United National Track and Field Invitational was held in Japan last year, it was decided to invite ROC decathlon and heptathlon athletes to participate. The representative participants for the decathlon were undoubtedly to be the two previous gold medalists Ku Chin-shui and Li Fu-en. The choice for the heptathlon was not so clear-cut, so Chi Cheng decided to consult Ch'en Ting-hsiung. "Send Wang Shu-hua," he said, "she's got real potential."

Chi Cheng was quite worried in regard to this completely unexpected recommendation. She was constantly calling Ch'en on the phone, and even made a special trip to the Tsoying center for the express purpose of checking up on Wang. "If we send the top athlete in the country and she loses, no one will have anything to say about it. If we don't send the our top athlete, and we lose, neither of us will hear the end of it," said Chi Cheng in weighing the pros and cons of sending Wang. "I guarantee that Wang Shu-hua will score at least 5,200 points," was Chen's confident reply.

In the end, Wang was sent to the competition, and, as expected, did not let anybody down. She came away with first place in the heptathlon, falling short of Ch'en's original predicted score by a mere eleven points.

Ch'en's current plans are to break the record for the men's decathlon within the year. He also has his eye on the women's heptathlon and men's 400 meter relay records. After these accomplishments, he feels he will be able to enter the 1988 Olympics with a real sense of security. Will Chen's "experiments" succeed? There are a lot of people anxiously waiting to see.

[Picture Caption]

(left) True feelings hidden in a passive sideline stance are a part of Ch'en Ting-hsiung's philosophy.

(right) An apartment of 35 square meters is occupied half by books.

(left) In 1984 Ch'en Ting-hsiung led the Mulan women's soccer team to victory over Europe's first-ranked West German team, an experience he will never forget. (courtesy of Ch'en Ting-hsiung)

(right) After his birthday, the "kids from the track team" made this card for Coach Ch'en.

Gritting teeth and fighting to the finish. Ch'en Ting-hsiung sees the purpose of life as a struggle towards one's goals, not the conquering of others.

Will the success of "Ch'en Ting-hsiung's experiments" be equally as bright?

Testing "spatial perception" is just this easy.

（right） An apartment of 35 square meters is occupied half by books.

（left） In 1984 Ch'en Ting-hsiung led the Mulan women's soccer team to victory over Europe's first-ranked West German team, an experience he will never forget. （courtesy of Ch'en Ting-hsiung）

Gritting teeth and fighting to the finish. Ch'en Ting-hsiung sees the purpose of life as a struggle towards one's goals, not the conquering of others.

（right） After his birthday, the "kids from the track team" made this card for Coach Ch'en.

Will the success of "Ch'en Ting-hsiung's experiments" be equally as bright?

Testing "spatial perception" is just this easy.