Interview

Q:: When did you get in touch with Tchoukball? How long is it? Is there any story you can share with us?

A:: When I studied in Taichung Teachers' College, our teacher introduced Tchoukball. As its rules are simple and it's a lot of fun playing it, we then held class competition, which deeply impressed me. So I've got in touch with Tchoukball for 17-18 years. If you ask me why I want to promote Tchoukball, then I will say because it is simple and fun. The equipment is also pretty cheap. The most precious thing is that Taiwan has been the world champion in Tchoukball for the past 25 years.

The most memorable event concerning Tchoukball happened in 2005—the first World Cup of Beach Tchoukball. Canada won the second place while Taiwan the first. The Canadian players knelt down automatically before Taiwanese players since they had imitated Taiwanese skills, yet they still failed to beat them up. Beside, in 2007, Brazil originally planed to host tthe World Cup of Tchoukball. Due to the far distance and the limitation of expanse, our players could not make it to Brazil. Other participating countries, knowing that we could not be there, automatically gave up the contest, which made the World Cup be suspended. These events give me the impression that Tchoukball is the kind of sports that can let Taiwanese walk out to compete with others.

Q::Have you ever led any team to compete? Or have you ever been a team's coach? How many years are there?

A:: Yes. I started to train teams when I worked as an interm in Chuang-Hwa county's Mei-Fung elementary school. We practiced really hard and made it to the second place of the county. So it has been 16-17 years.

Q::Why do you want to take Tchoukball as your main topic of research?

A:: My Tchoukball master thesis was completed in 2002. My supervisor once advised me not to write Tchoukball since its materials were hard to collect. But I insisted writing it since I thought Taiwan plays an important role in the international Tchoukball.

Besides I was attracted toward some special stories about Tchoukball and this exercise is suitable to elementary school children. With all these premises, I started to write a master thesis on Tchoukball.

Q::What is the most difficult thing you encountered while you were doing the research?

A:: The most difficult thing I encountered while doing the research is the collection of materials. I had asked several secretary-generals over the years. Yet since the materials at that time about Tchoukball were incomplete, they could not help me much. Yet since I insisted on doing it, I had to persist. So I flied to Swiss to collect some information about Tchoukball and personally consulted the president of International Tchoukball Association. If there were some international Tchoukball in Taiwan, I would also went there to find someone to interview.

With all these efforts, I finally had enough material to put together. After that, a Chuang-Hwa principal, who loved Tchoukball and eagerly promoted it, gave me two boxes of materials that he had collected ever since the first Tchoukball games held in Taiwan. Besides, Mrs. Fung, the wife of Ray-Chen Fung who introduced Tchoukball to Taiwan, gave me three boxes of materials as she knew that I am really serious about Tchoukball. With their help, I am able to know the historical context of the development of Tchoukball in Taiwan.