Sports council chairman aims to exercise judgment

Taipei Times: What factors initiated the project? Are Taiwanese people less healthy than people in other countries?

Lin (林德福): According to a recent study, the body fat of Taiwanese people has increased while the ratio of muscle has decreased.

We are also facing a serious decline in our "sporting population," which means those people who do exercise regularly and intend to make themselves healthier by exercising do not know where to learn new sports or where to find suitable sporting facilities.

Besides, the importance of children developing the habit of exercise has long been overlooked because of the pressure of school examinations. Nowadays, students are only receiving two hours of physical education classes per week and I must say it is impossible for anybody to learn any kind of sports in such a limited amount of time.

The purpose of teaching people new sports is not only to make them healthier by learning something that will be beneficial to them for the rest of their lives, but also to raise the public's interest in participating in sporting events.

Taipei Times: The proposal aims to double the sports population in two years. Are there any concrete measures you have in mind to achieve this goal?

Lin: I have asked for the support of local governments because they are in charge of local arenas and sporting sites.

After we reach a consensus, the local governments will have to discuss this project with local sporting groups -- such as tennis, swimming or Tai-chi clubs -- in their cities or counties and gather enough coaches to teach people new sporting activities.

Then, the local government will draw up a plan that shows how they will meet their targets. For example, the local governments will have to clearly point out how many local residents should be taught to swim, to play baseball, or to skate.

If the target can be achieved as planned by the local governments, our sporting population will then increase. Once there are more people exercising, the demand for more facilities will increase and eventually businesspeople will find opportunities for investing in new sporting facilities.

In other words, as long as we can increase our sporting population, not only will our people be healthier, but our sports environment will be enhanced.

Taipei Times: When did it first occur to you that there was a need to boost the sports population? Has anything similar been implemented previously?

Lin: Previously, the government held all kinds of sports contests and festivals. We found, however, that it was the same group of people participating in these contests. In other words, the sporting population did not increase because of sporting contests.

I began working on this project since I started working at the sports council two months ago. After discussions with colleagues and relevant institutions, we realized in order to increase Taiwan's sporting population we need to provide access for people to learn new sports.

Therefore, to help local governments meet their targets for the project, the sports council has promised to subsidize each of them with at least NT$2.5 million.

Taipei Times: Are there any particular kinds of sports that the sports council is trying to focus on?

Lin: We have given the local governments involved a list of over fifty kinds of sports to choose from. However, track relays and Tai-chi are the two central sports we would like to stress because both are cheap and convenient.