Tug our way from campus to the world - 2006 nationwide school tug of war competition opens on June 3

The 2006 Nationwide School Tug of War Competition was held on June 3-4 at the gymnasium of the National College of Physical Education and Sports. Director He Zhuo-fei of the Dept. of Physical Education, President Cai Ci-jue of the Chinese Taipei Tug of War Association, Chief Executive Chen Yi-heng of the Organization Committee of the 2009 World Games, and President Zhou Hong-shi of the National College of Physical Education and Sports on June 1 held a press conference and rally ceremony before the competition, expressing the goal of "tug our way from campus to the world." They hope our athletes can win many medals in the Eighth World Games to be held in Kaohsiung in 2009.

Director He indicated that the MOE has the policy of "One Man One Sport, One School One Team." Of all the group sports, the indoor eight-person tug of war is the group sport that the MOE pays most attention to under the policy. In the past seven years, a total of 9,376 teams have participated in the preliminary contests. Tug-of-war is the sport that has the most educational meaning and function. It is a sport that requires good teamwork. Victory only goes to the team whose team members are willing to work together.

To promote diverse campus sports activities and raise the health and stamina of students, the MOE in 1999 began subsidizing the National College of Physical Education and Sports and aggressively promoting eight-person tug-of-war activities at schools of all levels. In recent years, Taiwan's promotion of the sport in schools has attracted much international attention. The ROC women's tug-of-war team (members were all students of the National College of Physical Education and Sports) won the first gold medal in the 2005 Duisburg World Games (Seventh World Games) for the ROC. In addition, the team won first place in the 520kg category at the 2006 World Tug-of-War Championships.

At this year's press conference, the team that won the world tug-of-war championship performed in the opening ceremony. In addition, all participating teams were invited to attend a rally ceremony to pep up the contestants. Ninety-two teams from across the nation signed up to participate in this year's competition. All teams had a strong lineup and the competition was spectacular as expected. The host organization sincerely thanks all those who care about sports activities and visited the competition to cheer on the energetic young contestants.