Taiwanese MLB player Chen Wei-yin attended a charitable event held at Hsinchu County’s Zhongshan Elementary School on November 22nd. Chen not only gave a donation to multi-time national champion Zhongshan Elementary School Baseball Team, but also instructed about 90 elite junior players from across Hsinchu County in pitching. The junior players practiced in groups as Chen elaborated on the basics of pitching and corrected their techniques one by one.
Born in Kaohsiung City, Chen has shown his talents from an early age. He is a professional left-handed pitcher who currently plays in MLB, and also the first player in Taiwan who played in NPB at first before going to MLB. Accompanied by Assistant Manager of Cathay United Bank, Li Dong-fa, Chen gave some baseball equipment to the school and patiently explained the fundamentals of pitching step by step. He kept reminding the players to pitch with their chins down and to focus on the coordination among the arms, abdomen and legs. He also emphasized the importance of using the strength from the entire body rather than the hand only and maintaining stability with a balanced body.
When asked how to deal with stress, Chen replied that he tried to get rid of negative emotions first before finding a solution. Besides, he suggested sharing the stress with someone else instead of facing it alone. Chen was also asked how he could stand out from other great pitchers. He said that he never wanted to lose to anyone else. He practiced hard, enhanced his arm strength and ran farther than others. He believed that he is the only one who could outdo himself.
Chen also presented an autographed baseball to Hsinchu County Magistrate Chiu Ching-chun. Magistrate Chiu revealed happily that since his inauguration, he has been devoted to promoting baseball by inviting baseball teams from Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, to have friendly matches for seven years straight. The friendly matches not only boosted the interaction between the two countries but also broadened the junior players’ experience in international games. Magistrate Chiu showed gratitude for Chen’s coming, which sharpened the players’ techniques a lot. Magistrate Chiu also encouraged the junior players to learn from Chen in terms of his hard work, perseverance and fighting spirit.