Northwest Taekwondo Association

In 1968 a culture exchange program between Korea and the United States brought from the Song Moo Kwan gym in South Korea 36 year old Sun Do Chung, 7th degree master black belt instructor in the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do, to Tacoma,            Washington. Mr. Chung established Northwest Tae Kwon Do, a system of Tae Kwon Do  schools in the Northwest, which would ultimately number 33 schools with over 300 black belts. Core values of Mr. Chung’s style of martial arts are training, education and growth.

 

Mr. Sun Do Chung who placed a high value on college education collaborated with Centralia College to offer PE classes beginning fall quarter 1977. The first black belt instructor was Scott Angel who was a sophomore at Centralia College majoring in accounting. In his first group of students was a beginning white belt student and recent WSU graduate, Larry Grove. Scott transferred the next fall to the University of Washington to pursue his BA in accounting and would obtain his CPA license shortly after graduation. Two interim instructors from Northwest Tae Kwon Do taught the classes the next academic year. In the summer of 1979 Scott returned to teach one last quarter with the primary goal to train his eventual permanent replacement Larry Grove. Mr. Grove tested for brown belt at the end of summer quarter and began teaching the Tae Kwon Do classes at Centralia College in Fall quarter of 79.

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Mr. Grove continued teach faithfully until 2019. He taught in every single building at the college as the class bounced around over the 40 years. In 2002 a 16 year old running start PE student, Silas Newkirk, took the Taekwondo class under Mr. Grove. Silas, along with his twin brother Simon took the class thinking it would be fun, and would fulfill the required PE credits. After the first quarter they were hooked and Silas continued to train under Mr. Grove and obtained his black belt in 2013. Little did Silas know that 17 years after he first walked into the class Mr. Grove would pull him aside and tell him he wanted him to take over the instruction of the class. Mr. Newkirk has been continuing the legacy of teaching traditional Song Moo Kwan Taekwondo and carrying the torch of Mr. Chung's legacy.