Kuei-Shan Elementary Returns(a)|『威廉波特，我们回来了！

Kuei-Shan Elementary Returns to Williamsport Little League World Series

『威廉波特，我们回来了！──龟山小英雄重振少棒魂』

Hopes for little league baseball glory were recently reignited in Taiwan. Three years after the Kuei-Shan Elementary School (KSES) baseball team took second place at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the school once again won a berth to represent Taiwan in Williamsport. Though the final result was not quite what the players had been dreaming of, the team had an outstanding year.

Jobs are relatively plentiful in Taoyuan County's Kuei-Shan Township, so the area is home to a large concentration of indigenous people. The parents who have left their hometowns to come here for work are often unable to juggle schedules to be with their children after school. The needs of such kids for something to do prompted physical education instructor Chen Cheng-bo to found the KSES Little League baseball team in 2002. To help get the team established, he brought in Lee Cheng-ta, who had already achieved big success as a coach.

The school had never had a baseball team, and resources were limited. The task ahead was daunting. For starters, the school didn't even have much of a playground, much less a regulation baseball diamond. The players had to practice on a crowded basketball court or use the batting cage in the school's dumpy basement. They ripped up their trousers practicing base slides. In order to simulate the feel of an actual baseball diamond, Chen and Lee came up with the quirky idea of laying out tarp and plastic sheeting in the school's auditorium, covering it with sand, and sprinkling water over it. The athletes then used it to practice base running and slides. KSES may have arranged more friendly competitions than any other school in all of Taiwan. Why? Because that was the only way the players could get to play on a real baseball diamond.

威廉波特，我们回来了！──龟山小英雄重振少棒魂

重振少棒魂、重返威廉波特的荣耀，今年夏天又再实现！继 2009 年夺得世界少棒锦标赛亚军后，由桃园县龟山国小所组成的中华少棒代表队，8月中旬再度叩关威廉波特。虽然比赛结果差强人意，但已为台湾写下近年难得一见的棒球传奇！

桃园县龟山乡因工作机会较多，原本即为都市原住民的聚居地。离乡打拚的父母，工作繁忙，孩子放学后常乏人照顾。为了让下课后无处可去的孩子有事可做，龟山少棒的创团教练、时任该校体育老师的陈正博，找来了曾训练出知名球员的李政达，一同在 2002 年成立了龟山国小少棒队。

不过，要在毫无棒球历史，资源又有限的龟山国小办棒球队并非易事。首先，学校根本没有象样的操场，更遑论标准的棒球场。小球员只能挤在篮球场和简陋的地下室打击场练球。练习滑垒时磨破裤子是常有的事。为了模拟实际战场的球感，异想天开的陈正博与李政达，在学校的大礼堂铺设了帆布与塑料布，上面撒满沙子并泼水，好让小球员们练习跑垒及滑垒。他们更成为全台湾最爱找其他学校打『友谊赛』的球队，因为唯有打友谊赛时，小球员才能脚踏实地站上真正的棒球场。