Dressed entirely in white uniforms, the taekwondo team appears ferocious, like a veritable army of martial artists. The team has fought its way to become one of the best collegiate taekwondo teams in the country.
Taekwondo is the ancient Korean art of self-defense and recently became an Olympic sport. The three letters of the Korean word mean "foot", "hand" and "way" respectively, and together describe the art of kicking and punching, according to the Brown Taekwondo website.
The Brown team competes in five regional competitions and a national competition each year.
Under the instruction of Master Sung Park '99 and student instructors, the team has placed in the top three in the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association competition for the past 10 years, taking home first place last year in the color belt category and second overall. Last month, the team bested nearly 25 teams to win second place overall and first place in their division at a regional competition at MIT.
Mind and body dedication
Although taekwondo is a grueling sport that involves physical combat, there are also mental components and philosophies associated with the art form.
Taekwondo is "a balance between mind and body, and obviously it's a great physical workout, but…without the mind, the body is always going to break down," Park said.
At Brown, the team incorporates the traditional aspects of the sport, such as meditation, as well as the modern techniques used in the Olympics. At the end of each class, Park leads the team in meditation, offering suggestions on breathing techniques and tips for remaining focused and healthy throughout the day.
Members compete and practice in two categories — sparring and forms. In forms, an individual performs a routine alone in front of judges. Sparring involves one-on-one full-contact fighting. The techniques used in the events vary from level to level. Each member has a rank based on the color of his or her belt, with black belt as the highest. Students move up through the ranks by taking tests that include technique and knowledge about the history of taekwondo.
The team is funded by Undergraduate Finance Board, and participants also pay membership dues and hold fundraisers. The team showcases its skills at on-campus arts festivals and demonstrations. Team president Nina Lauro '11 says the team roster is now up to 120 members, with as many as 80 practicing at one time. The team uses the Kasper Multipurpose Room for their weekly practices, which include 7 a.m. practices in the week leading up to a tournament.
Beginner to blackbelt
Although the martial art originated in Korea, the Brown Taekwondo Club includes members from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Since taekwondo is taught in Korean schools, executive board member My Dang '13 said she thinks Korean students may not want to continue practicing the sport in college. There are many Chinese and Vietnamese students in the group, and several students who have had training in other martial arts, Dang added.
The team originated in the mid 1990s, according to Lauro. When Park first became a team instructor about 15 years ago as a student, the club only had 60 members. Its increased popularity is due to the coach himself, said executive board member Bennett Meier '12.
Park is a nationally renowned taekwondo instructor and won "Coach of the Year" at the national collegiate Taekwondo championships last year. He also owns his own taekwondo school in Smithfield, R.I. but travels to Brown several times a week to train the team.
"Because Master Park is such a phenomenal instructor, there's a lot of word of mouth about" the club, Meier said.
Meier learned about the club from his Meiklejohn peer adviser, and Lauro decided to join a friend who was in the club after she did not make a dance team on campus. Erica Thieleman '14 saw the team's table at an activities fair and noticed how "energetic" everyone looked, she said.
Joining the team was "definitely the best decision I've made freshman year," she added. Thieleman had never done taekwondo before and hopes to acquire her black belt by graduation.
The team's executive board members estimated that about 80 to 90 percent of members had never practiced taekwondo before joining the club. About 14 members have black belts, and those members can assist the team as student instructors.
The club is underrepresented in the black belt division, Dang said, adding that the other teams have approximately 20-30 black belts. Brown's low black belt count puts the team at a disadvantage in competitions, where teams are ranked based on overall points, said Jesse Madnick '12, a black belt and instructor. This makes it even more impressive when the team acquires a competitive number of overall points, Lauro said.
The team studies in the modern Olympic style, "so it's entirely possible for someone to start with Brown Taekwondo as freshmen and make their way up to the Olympics," Meier said.
‘This is family'
Beyond the physical advantages of taekwondo, several club members emphasized its social aspects. Members participate in many social activities together on the weekends, including bowling and hiking.
"This is family," said Park. "Not like going to a gym and working out. For me as a master instructor looking out for them, my door is open for them no matter how far they go (or) how long it's been."
When Park was a student at Brown, the Taekwondo Club helped him through a difficult time in his life. The death of his mother when he was a sophomore disrupted his college life.
Participating in taekwondo "got me out of bed every day," he says. The friends he made from taekwondo at Brown are still his closest friends.
Taekwondo alums are still closely connected with the group. They donated the mats that the team uses, and an alum has already offered to host the team during the national competition in California next spring. "It's always nice meeting people from past years," Lauro said.
On Saturday, about 60 members will travel to Princeton for a regional competition.
Park said safety and having fun are the most important parts of the competition but that he is optimistic about the team's chances. Other teams know about Brown's reputation for success, and that can be intimidating, he said.
But "any champion can be beaten," he said. "We just have to stay focused and patient."
