Lui Che Woo College:
The Role of Sports in Residential College Education
Text: Desmond Lam Chee Shiong, Chao Kuok Fai , Sun Sisi, Ivan Lei Weng Hong．Photo: Lui Che Woo College．Chinese Translation: Davis Ip
Lui Che Woo College (LCWC) at the University of Macau (UM) strives to become a place students can call home. This is reflected in the culture of the residential college (RC) and the college motto ‘We Are Family!’ LCWC also values academic excellence, leadership development, and diversity, offering various programmes to enhance students’ confidence, conviction, and competitiveness. Among these programmes are sports activities, which play a pivotal role in RC education at our college.
Positive Impact of Sports
The RCs at UM are important platforms upon which the university realises its visions for whole-person education. At LCWC, we are dedicated to whole-person education and care about the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our students. Just like the parents of a typical family, LCWC staff are committed to creating a home where ‘our children’ (students) can thrive personally, academically, and professionally, as well as acquire important qualities they need to become successful leaders.
Students and college staff play Kin-Ball
LCWC’s emphasis of sports is consistent with at least three of the seven competencies advocated by the university’s RC education model, namely Healthy Lifestyle, Service and Leadership, and Teamwork and Collaboration. Previous research has shown that students’ engagement in sports during their university years can promote their success not only in school, but also in later life. Studies on university students have also found that engagement in sports will create a positive impact on their academic outcomes, such as better teamwork in group projects and higher grades.
The college’s basketball team wins the championship in an inter-college competition
Playing sports also has many positive effects on university students, not only on their body, but also on their mind. Regular participation in sports helps to strengthen a student’s mental and emotional capital, including concentration, self-confidence, and self-esteem. Students can develop a stronger internal locus of control and a greater tolerance to both physical and mental stress. In addition, as failures in sports activities and competitions are not uncommon, students can cultivate perseverance and determination through frequent sports training and competitions. All of this helps to strengthen the resilience of students, which is crucial to their mental development, especially during the epidemic – ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’
Developing Multiple Skills through Sports
Sports involvement is highly encouraged and valued at LCWC. Every year, students are recruited for the annual inter-college competitions held by the UM Committee on Inter-College Affairs, where they compete with members of other RCs in sports such as basketball, football, cheerleading, badminton, and table tennis. LCWC not only provides ample resources, including qualified coaches and sports equipment, for students with an interest in sports, but also offers moral guidance for members of the college sports teams. In addition, each semester our college organises a wide range of sports activities, including professional training and recreational games, which students can choose to participate in freely based on their interests. In the previous academic year, more than 100 LCWC students joined the college’s Sports Day. During the event, in addition to popular sports such as basketball, badminton, table tennis, and football, the college staff and student leaders organised activities of tennis, Kin-Ball, squash, dodgeball, and jogging. In addition, many LCWC students participated in a mini-marathon sponsored by the Galaxy Entertainment Group.
Students and college staff join the 2021 Galaxy Entertainment Macao
International Marathon
Team sports, including basketball, football, and cheerleading, provide opportunities for students to foster interaction, teamwork, leadership skills, as well as analytical and strategic thinking skills. In addition, interaction with peers through team sports often leads to the sharing of useful information and knowledge outside the classroom, which can cultivate social skills indispensable to students in their professional careers in the future.
Students and college teaching staff in a cheerleading competition
Regular participation in sports, especially team sports, is also a fruitful source of positive mental energy. It can not only strengthen students’ sense of belonging and contribution to their RCs and the university, but also instil the value of responsible citizenship in them. Sports activities also provide a platform for college staff and students to interact in an informal setting. Indeed, LCWC staff and affiliates often engage with students during sporting activities. They train together with the students and passionately cheer for them at inter-college competitions. The college also provides guidance for students to balance the time between sports with academic activities.
A tennis training session
Future Plans
Sports play an important role in university and RC education. They not only build a person’s character, but also bring physical and mental benefits, helping students develop valuable lifelong skills beyond the classroom. In the future, LCWC hopes to expand its sports programmes to include other sports such as golf, cricket, volleyball, and Kin-Ball. In addition, the college will boost its existing sports programmes by recruiting well-qualified coaches. In alignment with our mission statement, these initiatives will help us nurture the next generation of globally-minded and competitive leaders.
A table tennis training session
Prof Desmond Lam Chee Shiong is the college master of Lui Che Woo College (LCWC) at UM. His research interests include cross-cultural decision-making, hospitality marketing, and gambling consumption. His publications have appeared in leading international journals such as the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Marketing, and Annals of Tourism Research. He is also the author of two books. His favourite sports include badminton, table tennis, and golf.
Prof Chao Kuok Fai is the associate college master of LCWC at UM and is responsible for affairs related to students’ life and academic development. He received his PhD in mathematics at the University of Manchester. His research interests include number theory, representation theory, and non-commutative geometry. He has held academic positions at Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fudan University, and Shanghai University.
Dr Sun Sisi is a resident fellow of LCWC at UM. She holds a doctoral degree in law from the University of Montreal, Canada. She is the author of a number of academic papers on RC education and was invited to speak at the 2019 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Student Affairs Conference in Los Angeles. She is also a researcher at the Sino-Canadian Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law and a registered lawyer in China.
Ivan Lei Weng Hong is a resident fellow of LCWC at UM. He has been involved in the development of sports activities and programmes in the college. Before joining UM, Lei studied and worked for over a decade in the United States, where he regularly participated in sports such as hiking, swimming, and badminton. He believes that sport is vital to the mental health, academic performance, and social well-being of students.
RC Development is a submission column. The views expressed are solely those of the author(s).
UM launched its residential college (RC) system in 2010 to create a multicultural and multidisciplinary learning platform for knowledge integration. RC education aims to cultivate seven competencies of students, namely responsible citizenship, global competitiveness, knowledge integration, teamwork and collaboration, service and leadership, cultural engagement, and healthy lifestyle.
Website of the Residential College System: https://rc.um.edu.mo
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