The Kyung Hee Taekwondo Program:
Intro to Kyung Hee

The following day we began our training at Kyung Hee University under the tutelage of Master Ik Ki Jeon, the 1986 World Champion and one of the first graduates of the Kyung Hee TKD program as well as a current faculty member of the university. Throughout our stay, Master Jeon provided us with a very rigorous schedule that enabled us to gain a better understanding of how the Kyung Hee program develops skilled and knowledgeable martial artists.

The Suwon campus of Kyung Hee University is approximately 40 miles south of Seoul. It is situated outside the city of Suwon and is surrounded by tree-covered hills, beyond which lies Singal Lake. The Department of Taekwondo, started in 1983, is under the direction of Dr. Kyung Ji Kim and has the full support of the Dean of the Physical Education Department, Dr. Ju Ho Jang (who is also a very good friend of Dr. Min). As described in the Kyung Hee University Summer and Winter Tae Kwon Do School pamphlet, the Taekwondo program

prepare[s] students for [a] professional career in TKD, to teach theory and practice of TKD, and to establish [a] scholarly system [through] scientific background of that theory.

Students receiving a bachelor's degree from this program are expected to continue their education in some fashion (many of the students we spoke with mentioned plans to attend graduate programs in the United States) in order to provide knowledgeable leadership in both the dojang as well as the classroom.

Our schedule at Kyung Hee generally consisted of morning jogging and stretching, followed by a morning workout and then an afternoon workout. Each training session was notable for different reasons. For example, the morning exercise varied from a formation jaunt with a soundoff, to a basketball game against the rugby team, to a blitzkrieg run up into the hills surrounding the campus. The morning and afternoon training sessions concentrated upon drills utilizing kicks executed in continuous fashion. If we were not kicking across the dojang floor, then we were either kicking the paddles or kicking the heavy bags.