Mr Chan Kui-yin was a graduate of the Grantham College of Education (one of the constitute colleges of education before HKIEd was founded) in 1975. Cheng, on the other hand, completed his Postgraduate Diploma with the HKIEd in 2004. Although Chan and Cheng belong to two different generations of PE teachers, they share the same passion and commitment to honing students’ bodies and minds through physical education.

“Many people think that basketball is a very monotonous game. But in reality, students can learn how to play by the rules and apply this to their daily lives,” said Cheng Chung-lam.

However, it takes expert knowledge to successfully bring out the potential of students. According to Cheng, PE activities must, first and foremost, be diversified. Knowing that conventional sports, such as track and field or team games, may not be every student’s cup of tea, the school also organises activities such as golf and taichi for the less vigorously inclined. Special extra-curricular activities were also held to coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. To make full use of this opportunity, Cheng and his colleagues took the students to watch the Olympic Torch Relay when it passed through Hong Kong. Additionally, they organised a function called “Ponies Coming to School”, to arouse the young children’s interest in sports.

Cheng’s passionate commitment mirrors the same expectations he received from his own mentor in the past. Ten years ago, when Chan Kui-yin was teaching at Ho Fung College, he had already noticed the exceptional talent of his young student Cheng Chung-lam in basketball and long-distance running. “Long-distance running is a sport for the individual – these athletes are usually more persistent and self-motivated compared to others. That was why I purposely pushed Cheng with challenges and had high expectations of him. I did so as I wished to further his drive and motivation.” Chan recalled.

Under this joint effort – “tailor-made, student-centred teaching” on the part of the teacher and “learning with humility” on the part of the student, the results were spectacular. Cheng Chung-lam emerged as the only candidate with a Grade “A” in physical education in the 1994 HKCEE. Chan, his mentor, was exultant and his self-confidence in his teaching methods was tremendously boosted. “That’s how a teacher is requited by his students, I do believe that one life influences another,” Chan commented.

Education has to keep moving forward in step with society. According to Chan, some recent studies have shown that the traditional belief that lactic acid is the cause of muscle pain is not entirely accurate. The advancements in sports have also brought about heated debate on issues such as doping and plateau training. This shows that physical education must keep abreast with the changes of time. Both teachers emphasised that PE is a science, from which other branches of learning such as physiology, psychology and sociology are also derived. It is definitely beyond mere exercise that helps to stretch the body or burn off calories.

Ever since PE became a part of the formal syllabus of the HKCEE, under the Senior Secondary Academic Structural Reforms some ten years ago, many schools have attached increasing importance to the subject. As a matter of fact, sports education is the most popular programme at the HKIEd. Putting life-long learning into practice, Chan, already a veteran PE teacher, has enrolled in our master’s degree programme in physical education, starting in this academic year. He is convinced that if teachers can seize the opportunities in sports development and be committed to advancing physical education, this knowledge and discipline will surely become more professionalised and science-oriented.