On 31 July, HKMU student athletes witnessed a historic moment: for the very first time, the USFHK Annual Prize Presentation Ceremony was held here at HKMU! The ceremony marks a symbolic close to the University's first year of participation as a full member in the competitions of the University Sports Federation of Hong Kong, China Limited (USFHK) after years of solicitation.
Student Affairs Manager Dr Alex Tsang, who joined HKMU to develop student sports back in 2015, saw the University through this tortuous admission process. 'By becoming an associate member in 2016, we were entitled to join six USFHK competitions per year. We might be able to join more in the event of withdrawal by member institutions, but it wasn't guaranteed.'
One major criterion for obtaining full membership is the capacity to host USFHK competitions. While the University has been highly active in participating in USFHK competitions in recent years, its applications for full membership were turned down repeatedly due to failures in meeting USFHK's venue requirements. 'To make amends,' says Dr Tsang, 'the University gave the marking lines of the Agile Sports Hall a makeover based on the specifications of a standard badminton court.' Sporting activities were also given priority to use the Hall. Finally, the Agile Sports Hall was chosen to host the USFHK badminton qualifying matches this year.
It means a lot for our student athletes to be able to play regularly with those from other university teams. Cheung Chun-ho, captain of the University's men's soccer team, says, 'Some university teams have members who are professional athletes. We can learn a lot from the games and exchanges with them.'
Outgoing captain of the women's volleyball team Wong Wai-yin is delighted to witness the growth of her team in her final USFHK matches. 'Quite a few of us were first timers to USFHK games. We aimed for top four, but didn't perform as well as we'd wanted at the beginning due to the lack of experience,' recalls Wai-yin. 'However, in the later matches, the relatively green members managed to calm their nerves and greatly exceeded my expectations.'
Both team captains are grateful for the support given by the University, including the provision of weekly coached training sessions. More support is, of course, always welcome. They suggest hiring professional coaches and running exclusive fitness courses for sports team members, for example.
