Sports Administration Honors Grassroots Communities for Advancing Nationwide Fitness and Sports Development

Taiwan's promotion of nationwide sports has reached an important milestone in recent years. To truly integrate sports into the daily lives of the public and take root at the grassroots community level, the Sports Administration's Department of All-People Sports grandly hosted the "2026 Sports Village and Neighborhood Certification Award Ceremony and Sharing Session" today. This event not only serves as substantial recognition of grassroots units actively promoting sports across Taiwan, but also marks a comprehensive shift in Taiwan's sports policy from past isolated breakthroughs to an in-depth, neighborhood-wide network development. Through the award ceremony, the government hopes to further stimulate grassroots momentum, ensuring that the habit of regular exercise is no longer just a slogan, but an everyday part of everyone's life.

During today's award ceremony, Fang Jui-wen, Director-General of the Department of All-People Sports under the Sports Administration, personally attended and delivered a speech. He pointed out profoundly that the implementation of all national sports policies and various large-scale activities can by no means rely solely on the central government fighting alone, but must heavily depend on the full assistance of frontline village and neighborhood wardens as well as community development associations. Grassroots wardens are often the people closest to the public's daily lives, having the most thorough understanding of community residents' routines, needs, and spatial resources. For this reason, utilizing the village and neighborhood system to encourage people to step out of their homes and participate in sports often achieves twice the results with half the effort, serving as a critical bridge for the genuine implementation of national sports policy.

Looking back at Taiwan's past sports development history, resources and policies were often concentrated on competitive sports training or the construction of large venues. While this has made an indelible contribution to raising Taiwan's visibility in international competitions, it also easily created a sense of detachment among the general public toward "sports," leading them to believe it was exclusively for professional athletes. However, with the rise of national health awareness and the advent of an aging society, the concept of preventive medicine has gradually gained popularity, and all sectors increasingly recognize the importance of the adage "exercise as medicine." To achieve the goal of regular exercise for all citizens, central planning alone is not enough; the battlefront must be extended to everyone's immediate surroundings. This is the crucial background from which the Sports Village and Neighborhood Certification system was born.

The certification award ceremony and sharing session held this time is not merely a medal-awarding ceremony, but also provides an excellent exchange platform. Outstanding village and neighborhood representatives from all over Taiwan gathered to share their practical experiences in promoting sports within their communities. Some villages and neighborhoods transformed idle spaces into miniature sports grounds where residents can safely stretch; others mobilized volunteers to form walking groups, folk dance clubs, or core muscle training classes suitable for senior citizens. These valuable practical experiences were transmitted through the sharing session, providing other communities still in the exploratory stage with concrete reference models, thereby fostering a healthy atmosphere of peer competition and learning.

Looking to the future, the Department of All-People Sports emphasized that a single award ceremony and event is only the beginning. The government hopes to establish a long-term and solid partnership with grassroots villages and neighborhoods across Taiwan through such a certification mechanism. Only through close cooperation between the central and local governments, sowing the seeds of sports into every alley and neighborhood, can we truly build a healthy Taiwan vision where sports are accessible everywhere and everyone loves to exercise. As the Department of All-People Sports continues to promote related policies and resource injections, future grassroots communities will no longer be mere places of residence, but the finest bulwarks safeguarding national health, making sports the strongest adhesive connecting neighborhood bonds and unifying community cohesion.

(Source: Central News Agency)