The Chinese Taipei Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (CTWWF), founded in 1973, has actively trained and certified coaches and waterskiing boat drivers, increased public participation opportunities and security, and developed waterskiing experience standard processes, as well as safety advocacy. Using waterskiing mechanical equipment could help reduce the risk and allow the disabled to participate. The 2009 World Games in Taiwan were not easy to fight for. Taiwan took the opportunity to train waterskiing and wakeboarding athletes to enhance the strength of domestic water sports. For the people of Taiwan to understand the sports better requires taking time to watch them, learning to appreciate the beauty of water sports, and allowing water sports to integrate into people's leisure lives.
TopIntroduction: Sports' Development In Taiwan
The following is an attempt to examine the history of the involvement of the Taiwanese people in sport, from the period of the Japanese occupation (1895-1945), the time in which widespread involvement of the Taiwanese in sport began through to the period since 1945, a time of rapid transition within the country. The post war years are divided into three phases: The Early Post-War Years (1945-1969); The Foundation Years (1970-1984); and the Developing Years (1985-present).
The Period of the Japanese Occupation (1895-1945)
From the beginning of the nineteenth century, Taiwan was nominally controlled by the Chinese Ching Dynasty. In 1895, at the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese in the Ma-Kuan Treaty (Taiwan History: Taiwan under the Japanese, 1895-1945, 2014), and the Japanese developed cultural and educational policies in Taiwan. Prior to the Japanese takeover, education had received little attention from the central government on the Chinese mainland. There was very little in the way of any type of provision for higher learning (Epstein and Kuo, 1991). Along with education, the Japanese also introduced sport and games to Taiwan. While the Taiwanese were initially suspicious of these strange practices, they had won fairly wide acceptance among the islanders by the end of the first decade of the 20th century. The growth of public school sports and the holding of school meetings, competitive league games and displays of physical culture worked to help change this perception. Both sexes participated in sports such as track and field, lawn tennis, basketball, volleyball, and swimming and additionally boys played rugby, soccer, hockey, and baseball (Tsai, 2001).
The Early Post-War Years, 1945-1969
Following the Second World War Japan ceded rule of Taiwan and in 1945 the island was handed back to the Chinese. The lack of material resources and the poor conditions on the island meant that sport was afforded a low priority. Although, the government did form an unofficial “sports association” within the educational bureau from 1954 to 1958 and from 1961 to 1973 (Tsao, 1998). These organisations lacked funding, government support, and were very loosely structured. Their major purpose was to put together simple nationwide sports events that were mainly for students and only in the most popular events, such as track, baseball and basketball. Due to a very limited budget and an inadequate amount of public sport facilities almost all of the sports events that were staged were held on school grounds. However, most school sport facilities and fields were small and as such it was very difficult to stage any type of large scale sporting event. Generally speaking, the development of sport in this early post war period was constrained by the general economic and political conditions on the island (Winckler, 1994).