Kainan High School Basketball | 開南高中籃球隊 HBL Story

Kainan High School basketball made one of the most quietly impressive jumps in recent Taiwan high school sports: 開南中學 (formerly 開南商工) won the HBL 乙級 (Division B) national championship in 112 學年度 and earned its first-ever promotion to HBL 甲組 (Division A) for the 113 學年度 (2024–25) season. Now in their second 甲組 year, 開南 is fighting to stay in the top tier of Taiwanese high school basketball — and it’s a story worth following for any English learner who follows Taiwan sports.

This article walks through the championship, the coaching staff, the sport science partnership behind it, and the basketball English vocabulary you’ll hear in any HBL broadcast.

學校與球隊概況 (School and Team Overview)

開南中學 — full official name 臺北市開南高級中等學校 — is a private senior high school in Taipei City’s Zhongzheng District (中正區), on Jinan Road, right next to National Taiwan University Hospital and across from the Legislative Yuan. The school was founded in 1917, making it Taiwan’s oldest private vocational school. Until 2020, it was officially called 開南商工 (Kai-Nan Vocational and Commercial High School), which is why older basketball databases and broadcasts still use that name.

The school enrolls roughly 1,000 students across its general high school, culinary, design, electrical, mechatronics, IT, and automotive programs. Its motto is 「至誠」 (utmost sincerity). Athletics has always been a side of school life that 開南 invests in, and basketball is the program that has finally broken through to the national stage.

Quick facts | 球隊基本資料

• School (學校): 臺北市開南高級中等學校 (Taipei Kainan Senior High School)
• Former name (舊名): 開南商工 (Kai-Nan Vocational and Commercial High School)
• Location (地點): No. 6, Sec. 1, Jinan Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taipei City (台北市中正區濟南路一段6號)
• Founded (創立): 1917 (Taisho 6, 大正六年)
• Head coach (總教練): 陳貴祥 (Chen Gui-Xiang), recruited from 花蓮自強國中
• HBL division (HBL 組別): Promoted from 乙組 (Division B) to 甲組 (Division A) starting 113 學年度
• Most recent championship (最近冠軍): 112 學年度 HBL 全國高中乙級 — team’s first HBL title

112 學年度乙級冠軍之路 (The Division B Championship Run)

HBL has two main boys’ divisions: 甲組 (Division A) is the top tier — the one with the famous Songshan, Nanshan, and Neng Ren programs that produce most of Taiwan’s professional players. 乙組 (Division B) is the second tier, where smaller programs and developing teams play, with the 乙組 champion earning the right to step up. That’s exactly what 開南 did. They won 乙級 in school year 112 (2023-24), and the league rewarded them with a 甲組 spot for the next year.

The championship run itself was dramatic. 開南 dominated their early national rounds, beating 高師大附中 (Kaohsiung Normal University Affiliated High School) and 彰化高中 (Changhua Senior High) by wide margins. In the championship final against three-time defending champion 建國中學 (Jianguo, Taipei’s elite boys’ school), 開南 lost the actual game by one point — but won the title on accumulated point differential across the round. It was the team’s first HBL trophy in school history.

Eastern Television (東森新聞 CH51) ran a feature on the team ahead of their first 甲組 appearance — calling the moment a 「前哨戰」 (vanguard battle), the warm-up before the storm of the season:

東森新聞: 「乙組冠軍」開南高中首闖甲組賽 — Kainan’s first 甲組 appearance.

Before that 乙級 championship, the team had also picked up two other titles in the same season: the 花蓮菁英盃 全國高中男子組冠軍 (Hualien Elite Cup national high school boys’ championship) and the 112 年臺北市教育盃 高中男子乙級冠軍 (Taipei City Education Cup, high school boys’ Division B) — undefeated in that one. It was, by any measure, a breakthrough year.

升上甲組 (From 乙組 to 甲組)

The 113 學年度 (2024–25) season was Kainan’s first ever in HBL Division A. The schedule put them straight into the boys’ preliminary round (男生預賽) against established 甲組 opponents. By 114 學年度 (2025–26), 開南 was deep into its second 甲組 campaign. One of those games — against Nanshan High School (南山高中), one of the most decorated programs in HBL history — was broadcast as a full-game highlight package by ELTA Sports (愛爾達體育家族):

愛爾達體育: 南山高中 vs 開南高中 男生預賽 114 學年度 highlights.

Watching the game with English ears, you’ll hear a lot of vocabulary that’s worth picking up. The play-by-play is mostly Mandarin, but the basketball terms themselves are largely borrowed from English, and they show up in the captions: fast break (快攻), pick and roll (擋拆), three-pointer (三分球), assist (助攻), turnover (失誤), rebound (籃板). If you’re learning English through sports, HBL highlights are a great low-pressure listening source — the vocabulary is repetitive, the visuals tell you what’s happening, and the games are short.

教練團 (The Coaching Staff)

Head coach 陳貴祥 (Chen Gui-Xiang) is the person most responsible for the program’s turnaround. Chen is a graduate of National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology (東華大學體育與運動科學系, class of 102), and was recruited to 開南 from 花蓮自強國中, where he had built one of Hualien’s most respected youth basketball pipelines. His philosophy — defensive intensity, full-court pressure, and a focus on each player’s “second profession” alongside basketball — reshaped the team within a single season.

Working alongside Coach Chen is strength and conditioning coach 陳致傑 (Chen Zhi-Jie), also a Dong Hwa Physical Education and Kinesiology graduate (class of 105). His work focuses on building the kind of explosive lower-body strength that lets undersized 乙組 graduates compete in the size-and-speed environment of 甲組. The combination — Chen Gui-Xiang on basketball, Chen Zhi-Jie on physical preparation — is what made 開南’s promotion possible.

Basketball English you’ll hear in HBL broadcasts

For Taiwan students learning English through sports, HBL is full of useful vocabulary. Here are 10 words to listen for:

• Layup (上籃) — a shot taken close to the basket, typically off one foot.
• Dunk (灌籃) — slamming the ball through the rim with one or two hands.
• Jump shot (跳投) — a shot taken while jumping. The most common shot in any game.
• Fast break (快攻) — a quick offensive push before the defense can set up.
• Assist (助攻) — a pass that leads directly to a teammate’s basket.
• Rebound (籃板) — gaining possession after a missed shot.
• Steal (抄截) — taking the ball away from the offense.
• Turnover (失誤) — losing the ball to the other team without a shot.
• Pick and roll (擋拆) — a screen, then the screener cuts to the basket.
• Buzzer beater (壓哨球) — a shot made just as the clock hits zero.

If you want to expand your sports English from there, our guide on building English vocabulary using word roots is a useful next step — many sports terms come from a small set of Latin and Greek roots.

運動科學的力量 (The Sport Science Edge)

One of the under-reported reasons behind 開南’s championship run is its partnership with National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Physical Education and Kinesiology (國立東華大學體育與運動科學系). NDHU’s sports science team travels to 開南 to run formal performance testing — measuring jumping power, sprint times, body composition, and recovery markers — and produces written reports for the coaching staff. This is the kind of structured athlete development that, until recently, was reserved for college and professional teams in Taiwan.

For Coach Chen Gui-Xiang and Coach Chen Zhi-Jie, both NDHU alumni themselves, the partnership is also a teaching opportunity for the next generation of NDHU sports-science students — who get hands-on testing experience with a competitive HBL roster. It’s a small but meaningful example of what happens when a high school program treats player development like a science instead of a tradition.

什麼是 HBL? (What Exactly Is HBL?)

HBL — 高級中等學校籃球聯賽 (High School Basketball League) — has been Taiwan’s official high school basketball competition since 1988. It’s organised by the Ministry of Education through the Chinese Taipei School Sport Federation (中華民國高級中等學校體育總會). HBL has four main divisions: boys’ 甲組, boys’ 乙組, girls’ 甲組, and girls’ 乙組. The 甲組 finals at the Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋) draw 10,000+ fans every March and are broadcast live nationally — making HBL one of the highest-profile high school sports leagues in Asia.

Recent boys’ 甲組 champions tell you who the kingpins are: 松山高中 (Songshan) won in 2025 and 2026, 南山高中 (Nanshan) in 2024, 光復高中 (Kuangfu) in 2022 and 2023, 能仁家商 (Neng Ren) in 2019 and 2020. 開南 stepping into that room as a first-year 甲組 team is a bit like a college walk-on getting their first start against a tournament team — exciting, daunting, and full of growth opportunity.

關於開南中學 (About Kainan High School)

Beyond basketball, 開南中學 is a working-class success story. It opened in 1917 as a joint Japanese-Taiwanese vocational school, and by the postwar decades had trained tens of thousands of accountants, electricians, and small-business owners. Its alumni network helped found 開南大學 (Kainan University) in Taoyuan in 2000. The school renamed itself from 開南商工 to 開南高級中等學校 on April 13, 2020, reflecting its shift to a comprehensive (general + vocational) high school model.

The school sits in one of the most central locations in Taipei — five minutes’ walk from NTU Hospital MRT (台大醫院站), close to 228 Memorial Park (二二八和平紀念公園), and surrounded by some of the city’s most important institutions. Students pass the Legislative Yuan and the Judicial Yuan on their walk to campus. It’s a school with a strong sense of place and a long history. Adding “HBL Division A basketball school” to that résumé is new — and earned.

球隊展望 (What’s Next for Kainan Basketball)

The hard part of getting promoted to 甲組 is staying there. Several teams have made the jump from 乙組, struggled through one season, and dropped back. 開南’s goal for the rest of 114 學年度 — and for 115 學年度 — is to consolidate as a permanent 甲組 team and start building toward an actual playoff appearance. The good news: their underclassmen now have two full years of 甲組 reps under their belt, which is the single best preparation for next year’s preliminary round.

If you live in Taipei and want to support local high school basketball, HBL preliminary games are usually held in school gymnasiums and are free to attend. Check the official HBL schedule (hbl.com.tw/schedule) for dates, and watch ELTA’s HBL playlist on YouTube for full-game replays. For students using sports as a way into English, basketball is one of the easiest entry points — the vocabulary is global, the action is fast, and there’s a complete library of free highlights waiting on YouTube.

Want a more structured way to learn English through topics you actually care about? Take a look at our English learning strategies for Taiwan professionals guide, or our work and success idioms list — many of them, like “slam dunk” and “full-court press,” come straight out of basketball.

Sources

1. 臺北市開南高級中等學校 — Wikipedia (zh-Hant) — School history, founding date, and 2020 name change.
2. HBL 高中籃球聯賽官方網站 — Official Taiwan High School Basketball League site for schedules, scores, and team listings.
3. 高級中等學校籃球聯賽 — Wikipedia — Recent HBL division champions.
4. 創紀錄 開南中學籃球隊勇奪HBL乙級冠軍 — Yahoo News — Championship details and trophy photo source.
5. 東華大學體育與運動科學系運動科學訓練助力開南中學籃球隊奪冠 — 中央社 CNA — Coaching staff details and sport science partnership.
6. 東森新聞 CH51 — 「乙組冠軍」開南高中首闖甲組賽 — News feature on Kainan’s first Division A appearance.
7. 愛爾達體育 — HBL全場精華 南山高中 vs 開南高中 男生預賽 114 學年度 — Full-game highlights of 開南’s 甲組 game vs 南山.
8. Taipei Kai-Nan High School — Official site (English) — School address, departments, and history.