Even though the club is called a Karate club, the club actually does Tae Kwon Do.

“Our club is technically called the Karate club because there’s another club registered as a Tae Kwon Do club,” said club vice president and senior in mechanical engineering Anglea Jacobson. “The style that we practice is Olympic-style Tae Kwon Do. The term Tae Kwon Do means the ‘way of the hand and foot.'”

Jacobson said the club had 111 registered members in the beginning of the semester. She said the main reason why the club is one of the biggest sports clubs at Iowa State is because of Master Yong Chin Pak.

“A lot of it is Master Pak,” Jacobson said. “He has built up a pretty strong tradition. A lot of people stick with it for a couple of years. He’s really good in building a community, family relationships with the club members. He’s really good at what he does.”

Pak, adjunct instructor of health and human performance, has been teaching the martial arts program at Iowa State since 1975.

Pak, who has a seventh-degree black belt, instructs daytime physical education courses and extracurricular clubs. He has also received much recognition for his teaching, including a 1983 outstanding teacher’s award and a 1993 faculty citation from the ISU Alumni Association.

The club participates in some tournaments through out the school year, including the Iowa State Championships. The club also plans to attend a national competition Nov. 7 and 8 in Seattle, Wash.