One of the best reasons to learn tae kwon do is “to carry on a cultural tradition,” according to the Tae Kwon Do Club’s Web site.

This martial art is certainly steeped in Korean tradition. Tae kwon do has been around for approximately 2,000 years. Comparatively though, the specific style that the Club teaches, chung-do-kwan, is a relatively new style, though assistant instructor Chris Cole said it is still full of tradition.

“[Chung-do-kwan] was really organized by two different people. One person organized it and another person picked it up and developed a program,” Cole, a second degree black belt, said. “It occurred back before the Korean war, so there was a lot of unrest in the country.”

Cole went on to compare the chung-do-kwan situation to slavery before the civil war. No one who wanted to learn the martial art could, since it was an organized way of fighting.

Cole said just like the South tried to suppress the ability to read and write among slaves, Koreans were not supposed to learn the martial art for fear that it would unify them, and threaten the authority in place.

The club also has a tradition of its own. It was formed back in 1987 by Master Steve Follick. It is one of the longest-tenured clubs in Club Sports.

It is a unique club, because it is not completely run by students. The club is affiliated with Sun Yi’s Academy, an internationally-accredited school of tae kwon do. The academy provides the instructors that teach the classes. “There’s classes down at the YMCA, in Garner, in Durham, all associated with Sun Yi’s Academy,” club president Jeffrey Hoffmann said. “So this club is more of an extension of that larger club, just within N.C. State.”

Every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., the club has classes in the fencing room at Carmichael Gymnasium, and has good attendance, according to Hoffmann.

“Usually per class we’ll get 15 to 20 [people],” Hoffmann, a brown belt and a senior in chemistry, said.

The club emphasizes traditional tae kwon do, from bowing upon entering the room to show respect for the place of teaching to wearing the traditional white do boks whenever the members wear their uniforms.

The club also sticks with the tenets of tae kwon do. The tenets are what all members of the martial art strive to achieve in their practice of it.”[The tenets are] courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit,” Junior Master Mark Tung said. Tung is one of the main instructors for the club.

The class members welcome anyone, constantly emphasizing that one must start somewhere.

Reaching black belt status in tae kwon do takes approximately two years with hard training, according to the club’s website. But the real work lies in moving up in the black belt ranks, as evidenced by Tung’s fourth-degree black belt status.

Tung said it took him 15 years to reach this point in his training.

“I was just like you about 15 years ago,” Tung said.