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Linda Yeung

HONG KONG IS not exactly the strongest player in the team when it comes to sports. Space is a key issue: with a highly concentrated population in a small space, expansive sports fields are few and far between.

Children do not enjoy the sporting advantages of their peers in other countries, and spend much more free time studying or playing computer games.

But that could begin to change with the Government's latest sports policy review. A high-powered sports commission to map out policies and funding for sports groups is envisaged in the consultation paper released by the Home Affairs Bureau last week. Also proposed are new district-based sports clubs and world-class sports venues to encourage international events.

Most significantly for schools, the document calls for an increase in physical education lessons.

Sports educators are delighted with the government initiatives, which they think are vital for community participation in sports and their expansion within education.

'Sports development in Hong Kong will create the need for more qualified professionals and more research for training elite athletes,' said Alison McManus, course director at the physical education and sport science unit at the University of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Institute of Education trains most of the SAR's PE teachers for primary and secondary schools. Around 150 teachers graduate from the institute to go into teaching each year.

Because of the current packed curriculum, educators think it will be difficult to extend PE in the future. But Hong Kong has long had a shortage of PE teachers. The head of HKIEd's physical education and sport science, Raymond Liu Yuk-kwong, says the need for competent teachers in particular would intensify as a sporting culture develops. 'We will need additional resources to improve our facilities and equipment, to produce graduates full of competence and with the right knowledge and skills,' he said.

The sports development blueprint also convinces the head of the Baptist University (HKBU) physical education department, Dr Leung Mee-lee, of the need for more resources. HKBU was the first to enrol undergraduates in recreation and leisure management studies. In 1996, it decided to focus on recreation management, expecting a growing demand for professionally trained workers in the field. But the number of graduates with sports-related training is small, paling in comparison with the UK, which reportedly had 5,000 students studying sports science degrees in 1999.

'Sports is the basis of physical education but it has been a long-neglected field of studies,' Dr Leung said. 'There will be more job opportunities ahead, in the Culture and Leisure Services Department and sports associations, many of which now look for degree holders as executives.'

Interest is growing for the HKBU course, which has 30 places available each year. The number of applicants has jumped from around 1,000 at its inception in 1992 to 2,428 this year, accompanied by an improvement in the calibre of students. However, while Dr Leung agrees interest in sports management will continue to grow, she cautions against a flood of new courses, especially internationally-run ones.

Dr Leung, who is also honorary deputy secretary of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, stressed the need for specialised local teachers who could provide students with the relevant skills to work in Hong Kong.

'In order to have good quality control you can't have an explosion in numbers,' she said.

It was no use having lecturers from Australia, the US or UK if they did not know the sports culture, financial situation and demographic changes and therefore could not relate to students on a local level, she said.

'All these things will have a great impact on how we run the show, how we run the event: there's a lot of difference.'

Because of the course's popularity the university also started a master's in sports and leisure management last year, for 20 students.

Around 30 per cent of graduates from the undergraduate course last year were employed by government departments or camps, while others worked for organisations such as the YMCA, became teachers, worked at fitness clubs or national sports bodies such as the Hong Kong Football Association as sports managers.

'The demand for these courses is there because of the expansion by the Government, the winning of the Olympics bid and the arrival of Disney. This has all added to the students' interest, and they see they can get jobs,' said Dr Leung.

HKU's exercise and sports science lab head Duncan Macfarlane said people were beginning to realise sport could provide legitimate business opportunities for those with the right qualifications. 'The most important thing is to increase public awareness that this is a career and a serious academic discipline.'

HKU's bachelor of science degree in sport science and leisure management is one of the newcomers, at two years old. Currently it has 30 students enrolled.

Many agree that a cultural shift from Hong Kong's ingrained preference for academic books over the basketball or tennis court is needed, as called for in the consultation paper.

'What we're hoping for is that generally the sports culture will change. Equally it has not been a profession for people to pursue. They have gone into accountancy or law where they can earn money, and they have not perceived that sport can do that,' said Elizabeth Dendall, programme director at HKU's School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPACE).

SPACE offers part-time graduate certificate, graduate diploma and MA programmes in recreation and sports management, run in conjunction with Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.



Sporting life gets a shot in the arm