한국국제교류재단

“Apparently, the average number of trainees signed up at individual studios across the country is 50 to 70, but at my studio, the number hovers around 270 to 280. With some of the classes at the local elementary school, 50 to 70 percent of the pupils are attending my studio,” Shim said.

Among the 14,000 or so taekwondo studios across Korea, it is rare to find one with so many trainees. “As taekwondo became a sport activity for children, an increasing number of studios started focusing on getting the children to have fun, playing games like knee wrestling or dodge ball,” Shim said. “Young children find training difficult, so instructors attempt to capture their interest with fun and games. But at studios like that, only about half of the children attend for more than a year. They lose interest when it’s only fun and games.”

Shim once considered whether he should also try games-based training. But as a taekwondo master, he felt a sense of responsibility to adhere to the fundamental spirit of martial arts. He staked his success or failure on authentic training. As a result, most children at his studio continue to train for five to six years. They get a taste of the true joy of martial arts, progressing one rank at a time as they train.

The basic training structure is the same throughout the world. Trainees go through tests to progress through ranks (geup), from 10th to 1st, and then rise through nine levels (dan). However, a dan title is only available to trainees older than 15. Those who qualify for dan but are not 15 years old yet are given a junior title called poom. New trainees will wear a white belt, while a black belt designates someone at the dan levels.

Students of Taekwondo master Shim demonstrate their high kick skills at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. Shim developed “high kick holidays” to boost the fighting spirit of schoolgirls in particular, and give them positive memories.

Shim Jae-wan, a 6th dan master (sabeom), was born in 1962 in a small village in North Chungcheong Province, as the youngest of seven siblings. When he was around seven years old, a taekwondo studio opened in a neighboring village. He was curious, but he did not have money for lessons. When the studio’s director heard about the child’s predicament, he let him train for free. Thanks to such generosity, Shim was able to discover the joy of taekwondo. After finishing middle school, he moved to Seoul to attend high school but continued his training. His family’s financial constraints put college out of reach, so he began to look upon taekwondo for his livelihood. As soon as he finished high school, he started to work as an instructor at a studio, and after marrying, he rented a space to open a small studio of his own.

Wanting to study more systematically, Shim majored in taekwondo at Yonsei University’s Institute of Continuing Education and became one of its first graduates. Later, he enrolled in courses at the Taekwondo Department of the Graduate School of Physical Education at Kyung Hee University to continue his passion for learning. The coursework not only improved his theoretical foundation but bolstered his planning ability and initiative, which is now on full display at his studio.

Typically, about 90 percent of the trainees at most studios are male, but at Shim’s studio, around 40 percent are female, thanks to one of his programs that highlights their abilities. In most cases, girls are far better than boys in standing high kicks, where one leg shoots straight up. That inspired Shim to develop what he calls “High Kick Holidays.”

The holiday destinations span from central Seoul to foreign countries, and at every location the trainees do impressive high kicks, using the natural landscape or unique scenery as a backdrop. Shim captures the trainees’ posed kicks and puts their photos or videos on the Internet. The holidays have made him learn how to produce and edit videos, and he says that “the work of putting the videos on my studio’s blog or YouTube is my greatest happiness.”

He went on, “You see, I wanted to make precious memories for the kids of their childhoods. For the female trainees, in particular, I hope that later on, when they have become mothers, they can show the videos I’ve made to their children and find strength in seeing them.”

As president of the Korea Taekwondo Tool Training Center, Shim also develops and deploys tool-based techniques.

“Tool-assisted training was developed by another master, but it didn’t really reach a wide audience,” said Shim. “I’ve divided it up into a number of stages and I’m integrating it into the training. Until now, taekwondo training has all been personally administered by the instructor, but if you use tools, the trainees can practice certain things by themselves. As one example, in the past, for children who couldn’t fully do the splits, the instructors would push them downward until they could do it. But now, if they keep training consistently with a tool, the kids can get there by themselves. At first, they kick a low domino and knock it over, then gradually taller dominoes until, in the end, they reach their goal.”

Shim wakes up at 8:30 every morning and arrives at his studio at around 11 o’clock. After changing into their uniforms, he and the other instructors set up the studio for the day ahead. At around 11:30 a.m., they all have lunch together and he takes care of the education program while the other instructors drive the studio’s two 12-seater minibuses to pick up trainees at their schools. The trainees arrive between 12:30 and 2 p.m., don their uniforms and begin practice.

Shim leaves his studio between 10 and 11 p.m., after all trainees have returned home and the studio has been tidied up, but he still is not entirely finished. “When I get home and shower, then have something to eat and put up the trainees’ photos on the studio blog or YouTube, I usually end up going to bed around 1:30 to 2 a.m. Maybe because I’ve simply gotten used to this routine, I don’t get particularly worn out,” he said. “When I’m feeling a bit exhausted, I rest at home and look at some of the photos of the children practicing their high kicks and I feel fully recharged in no time.”

At first glance, it may seem like Shim’s daily life is nothing but taekwondo, but he always finds each day new and special.

“When I first opened my studio, I had three goals. It was my dream to buy my own home, buy the car I wanted to drive, and set up a studio in a space that I owned. Well, I’ve made all of those dreams come true.”

These days, he only has one goal in life: now in his late 50s, he wants to continue guiding children to grow up well with taekwondo until he is 70. But there are many times when reality disappoints his hopes.

“Children these days seem to be much weaker emotionally. There are also many mothers who are overprotective,” he said. “And so many children these days are growing up without a brother or sister, and they don’t have any sense of compromise, concern for others, or teamwork. They argue at the slightest provocation. If they’re not hungry they’d rather throw food in the trash than offer it to other people. They’re always given everything, so they don’t know how to share. The children are getting taller and bigger, but they lack stamina, and there has been a real decline in things like bone density and muscular strength.”

When he sees children like this, Shim feels distressed, but the way he sees it, “the worse things get for children today the more important taekwondo is for their lives.” The first activity for new trainees is to learn proper formal speech and meditation — basic exercises in character building. Shim always has the demeanor of an affable grandfather, but he will not tolerate any trainee bullying a cohort who is weaker or younger.

“If exercise only makes the body strong, it’s completely useless. With taekwondo, while strengthening the body, it’s just as much about cultivating the mindfulness to control that strength. If you learn how to use your body, you have to be even more careful about your behavior, and if you have made yourself stronger than other people, you have to help them, not cause them harm.”

One of his punishments for bullying is replacing the offender’s black belt with a white one. The latter is what is worn when starting out, so the punishment tells the wayward trainee to “fix your heart and mind and start again from the beginning.”

As the afternoon progresses, Shim’s empty dojang fills up with lively children in their taekwondo uniforms. Surrounded by the adolescent high energy, Master Shim’s face lights up.