The 2006 Academic Year TKU Water Athletic ended perfectly last Saturday. Lin Chi-wen (freshman, Dept. of Information Management) won three woman champion awards of B section in the contest of 50 M breaststroke, 100M breaststroke, and 100M freestyle. Chan Ching-yuen from Dept. of Chemical and Material Engineering was the male champion of B section in both 50M and 100M freestyle.

There were diverse kinds of contests. Apart from 50M and 100M breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly, there were also many fun games, including tug of war in water, boating contest, flutter kick relay, and lifesaving relay. Among them, the tug of war in water was the most fascinating. Audience gathered around the pool and wondered how to play tug of war in water. In the end, Swimming Lovers, lead by Chen Wei-hsin (sophomore, Dept. of Mass Communication), got the first place. Members of the team indicated that they had no idea how difficult to play tug of war in water until the game began. “Our team had high morale. Since we have found the knack to it, we’ll definitely come again next year!” said Chen.

Liu Pai-he (sophomore, Dept. of Information and Library Science) and three other team members participated in lifesaving woman relay contest. They never thought that they would win the first prize since they joined the game with a relaxed and playful mood at first. Lin Shang-tzu (sophomore, Dept. of Information and Library Science), one of Liu’s team members, also got the woman runner-up of B Section, 50M and 100M freestyle.

Staff Association team had good performance in the games of water basketball and volleyball, two new games added this year. Liu Tsung-te, teacher of physical education, indicated that, “We really had a lot of fun playing these games! It’s a little bit pity that there were not many teams joined the games. I hoped more teachers and students will partake in the games next year, experiencing the fun of playing ball in water.”

The 2006 Academic Year TKU Open Soccer ended perfectly on May 20. There were 22 teams joined the game, and since the number of the teams were much more than before, the game extended for two days. After fierce competition, International Trade Dept. won the championship, and the team “Chen Yen-hsun Is So Handsome” got the second place.

The soccer game this year was still proceeding in the drench. At the finals, the rain was sheeting down, which made the game more suspenseful. “International Trade Dept.” and “Chen Yen-hsun Is So Handsome” were well-matched in strength. The front of the latter had more attack power, but the former was also good at defense, which made the game become a dead heat. At the last minute, “International Trade Dept.,” with their slightly better skills, got one more point than “Chen Yen-hsun Is So Handsome” and won the contest.

“International Trade Dept.” contained a group of students from Dept. of International Trade, and most of its members were foreign students, which let the team become a miniature WTO. Tokai Masanao (senior, Dept. of International Trade), a Japanese student, expressed that soccer has become an exercise for the entire people of Japan and South America. Since there were many foreign students from the two places in their team, it was not surprising that they had more experience, which turned into their advantage. For instance, Ulloa Maffio Gustao Adolfo (freshman, Dept. of International Trade), a foreign student from Costa Rica, got ten scores for the team, which was the highest record in the whole team.

“Chen Yen-hsun Is So Handsome” was named after one teammate’s name, and it had actual strength too. Most of the members were sophomores, and they performed well from the start of the game. One player kicked three balls into the goal two times at first, which astonished all the people. Weng Hung-chieh (sophomore, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering) indicated that their key factor to win lied in their intimate cooperation. That was why they could get scores under the tight guarding of the opponent while their own back and goalkeeper were a little bit understrength.

Chen I-cheng, coach of TKU soccer team, points out that the participant teams of the soccer game nowadays tend to become more professional. However, it is rather a pity that students cannot bring their skills into full play if they play at outdoor court since the players’ performance would be limited by climatic situation and lack of appropriate equipment such as spike. Therefore, Chen considers to hold the game ahead of time next year so that it can avoid raining season. He also expects that the host can make good use of the resource in the gym. For example, a Futsal game in the gym may invite the participants to unfold more of their talent. ( ~Shu-chun Yen )