Date: 31 October 2018
Word/Jenny Yun-Chen Chang(Taiwan)
Photo/Danny Wang
Hsinchu- After ending his first High School Basketball League (HBL) game as a full-time coach at National Keelung Commercial & Industrial Vocational Senior High School (KLCIVS) with an 84-31 win, Meng-Ta “Ta” Lin shared his life motto and secret of sticking to plans.
Now aged 25, Ta always plans ahead. Back when he was in elementary school, he not only played basketball, but also played the clarinet for a year, learned Go for a short while, and was even the principal cello.
“Yes, I was the principal cello,” Ta said, “but that was forced by my mom, so I decided to play basketball in junior high.”
Support from family is something Ta cherishes the most. From elementary school to senior high, his family members showed up at games to cheer for him. No matter what decisions he makes, they’re always on his side.
“Yet I really wanted to resign in junior high.” Ta said. “I was beaten hard by the coach at the time.”
Although Ta wanted to quit, his mom gave her whole support and told him “No matter what decision you make, just don’t give up!”
Thanks to Ta’s family, he not only made it, but also continued his journey to New Taipei Municipal Taishan Senior High School (TSSH), at where he spent the past 10 years as a player and an assistant coach.
Even though Ta’s not tall, he’s got games, and he’s very down-to-earth that he stroke his coach, teacher even his opponents as a little giant.
“I know I’m not as good as the others,” Ta said, “so I made every endeavor to make myself versed. If others practice ten times, I practice twenty times. I just had this mindset that ‘I’m never well-prepared,’ so I usually stayed 30 to 60 minutes more after the practice.”
During his time at TSSH, Chih-Chong Chen, a former professional basketball player in Taiwan, was his teacher. Chen recognized Ta’s talent, but at the same time, was worried about his height preventing Ta from pursuing his dream, which is SBL (Super Basketball League), the highest level of basketball league one can achieve in Taiwan.
“He kept telling me to apply for a university that provides Teacher Education Program.” Ta said, “Of course, I didn’t listen. I didn’t understand at the time. I always believed that I’ll make it.”
However, Ta isn’t unconquered. Within first year at university, he suffered from the most serious injury he has ever had, tearing his lateral collateral ligament (LCL). Not until the injury did Ta realize that he should have some back-up plan.
“I played so well that I didn’t think anything could stop me,” Ta said, “but when I got hurt, I started to think about what Teacher Chen told me. I started to study hard and went back to TSSH to be an assistant coach.”
According to Ta, he’s pretty mature comparing to the other college students. While other students were ditching classes and having fun, he set a goal for himself and studied hard to get into the Teacher Education Program, which he did succeed later.
With his experience at TSSH, Ta was confident about getting Teacher Certification. However, he failed the first time, and he gave himself a due date, which is getting Teacher Certification in three years.
“The second year was tough.” Ta said, “I knew I need to study harder, but serving the alternative military service at TSSH as an assistant coach, I needed to have great time management.”
During that year, Ta would lead the morning practice starting 6:30 am, and studied from 8 am to 12 pm after players went for class. More practice in the afternoon and evening, and after the players went to bed, he continued to study until midnight. The last month before the exam, he even stayed at a friend’s house with 3 other potential teachers in order to focus themselves more, and when the result came out, Ta harvested his hard work.
“I always tell students that life’s not gonna give you what you want all the time.” Ta said, “If the game’s not following our rhythm, there are tips we can utilize to get ourselves back to the game such as having a short meeting during free-throws.”
Not many basketball players in Taiwan study hard, so did Ta, but he changed his mind because of Teacher Education Program and the process preparing for getting Teacher Certification. He realized that many theories mentioned in educational psychology really helps him on mentoring students.
“Now serving at KLCIVS,” Ta said, “I notice that students here lack confidence. According to educational psychology, this kind of student needs the theory ‘feedback sandwich’. Tell them what they’re good at first, give advice and suggestions, and then tell them that I believe they have the ability to do it.”
Because of Teacher Chen, Ta truly understands how important a great teacher can be in a student’s life. He now follows the lessons he learned from Chen and pass it forward to his own students.
There are three objectives Ta wants to achieve now, one for himself, one for students and one for them as a team. He wants to learn English well to set an example for students, to motivate them to study, and he’s molding students’ attitude and habits such as not wearing slippers on campus. Last but not least, he hopes KLCIVS can reach Elite 8 this season.
Meng-Ta Lin is never an opportunist, but he never let an opportunity leave. When students are in the hands of Ta, they are in good hands. Success doesn’t come overnight, and this is just the overture of Ta’s journey. As long as he keeps bringing his A-game wherever he goes as usual, there’s more for us to look forward to.