臺灣美式壁球運動史之探討

壁球運動在國內是一項新興的運動，尤其是在高雄舉辦的2009年世界運動會，美式壁球運動和英式壁球運動亦列為競賽種類之一，可見該項運動的推廣已逐漸成效。壁球運動是集桌球、羽球、網球、撞球之特色於一身。由於不受身材體型的限制，是適合國人發展的運動項目。另外要有敏捷和迅速移位的接球，並且要快速的將球回擊成功。壁球運動其活動量極大，不但是競賽最佳運動之一，更可以達到健身和休閒的效果。國內壁球運動發展早在1953年美軍顧問團在台成立後，即將美式壁球運動引進台灣，當時是美國軍人作運動訓練及休閒活動的一環。而臺灣遲至1995年才正式成立中華民國壁球協會。特別是高雄爭取到2009年世界運動會後，並於2006年9月11日舉辦了首次的美式壁球運動項目介紹，國人才能更進一步認識美式壁球運動。美式壁球運動由於為非亞、奧運動會比賽項目，因此行政院體育委員會在經費補助的不確定感，造成這項運動在推廣上的難度。研究者期望透過世界壁球總會及中華民國壁球協會大力推廣這項運動，希望不只是在世界運動會列為比賽運動，更期盼未來能夠在奧林匹克運動會正式列為比賽項目。

關鍵字

美式壁球；英式壁球

並列摘要

Racquetball is a new sport in Taiwan. However, this event as well as squash are included in the world games 2009 held in Kaoshung city. It is becoming a popular sport. Racquetball is characterized by mixtures of table-tennis, badminton, and billiard. This sport is not limited by physical dimension. Agility and flow in response to high speed of ball shooting are needed to have optimal performance. Ball should be played back to the opponent in a fairly high speed. Racquetball is also one of the most prevalent sports in the US military, which was established in 1953. The official association was established in 1995. Its first competition held in Taiwan was on September 11, 2006. This is awaited to be promoted into a common sport discipline. Since this event has not been accepted as one of the Olympic events, it adds uncertainty on government funding from National Sports Affair Council. This paper highlights the main features of racquetball and is hoping to develop this new sport discipline in our country.