When someone looks at the growth of a sport, they should look no further than Tae Kwon Do, an ancient form of karate. This year’s Iowa Games showed that the sport is growing, especially in Iowa.

Master Yong Chin Pak, commissioner of Tae Kwon Do for the Iowa Games for the past 11 years and instructor at ISU for the last 25, said that over 300 students participated this year, and over 35 of them were from Iowa State.

Pak, the longest commissioner of the sport in Iowa Games history, is a seventh degree black belt (the highest rewarded is tenth degree).

“Becoming a black belt takes a minimum of 2 1/2 years,” Pak said. “I have a seventh degree which I have worked for since I came to Iowa State.”

J.D. Palasek, president of the ISU Tae Kwon Do Club and a first degree black belt, credits Pak with many of his attributes, but says he stresses education.

“If you have bad grades going, he wants you to bring those up,” Palasek commented. “He tells you to bring them up because the club will always be there when you have succeeded in doing that. That is what makes him so great.”

Discipline, respect, commitment and sportsmanship are some of the key fundamentals as one progresses in the sport.

“Respect, not only for yourself but for others, is a necessity on the mat as well as life,” Pak said. “It’s tough to succeed either place without those two things.”

“Another goal is to pass on what you have learned to others,” Palasek added. “Opening up schools in the future will only help people be more active in it.”

One of the newcomers to the Tae Kwon Do club is Jeff Gnade, a first-time Iowa Games participant and a first place finisher at the Iowa Games in the blue belt heavyweight division.

“It’s amazing to see all these people out here competing and watching,” Gnade said.

“My goal is to get a black belt in a year-and-a-half, when I graduate.” Gnade said, who has already been in the club for about a year.

Gnade also said he was going to train for Nationals at Princeton in October.

Tae Kwan Do, surprisingly, is not a sport in which the students like to compete.

Master Pak says that only 10-15 percent of the students care to compete at different levels nationally and internationally. It is a self-defense tool and that is why it is most often used.

However, one is literally competing when he/she tests out of one color of belt to advance to another color.

According to Palasek, a black belt of the third or fourth degree should nearly be through competing and should probably be teaching.

The ages of students vary a lot, from very young kids to people in their 50s and 60s. Palasek is one of them.

“I started when I was 23 and rugby wasn’t cutting it for me,” he said. “Now I am 26, so I am not exactly one of the traditional students of Tae Kwon Do.”

Whatever the age of the student, Pak treats them all the same, like members of his family.

“I want the students to turn out as great an individual as they were students,” Pak said. “That is the ultimate reward for me.”