Lafayette College’s taekwondo club found itself in the spotlight during the intermission of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms game on Sunday.
Five members of the club performed in a live demonstration featuring a range of techniques and weapons from bo staffs, nunchucks and bamboo swords projected on the PPL Center’s jumbotron. Club members across experience levels participated, showcasing foundational aspects of the discipline.
“Overall, the demonstration went very smoothly,” freshman club president Aston Yuan said. “We had people come and watch us, and we had a lot of great feedback.”
Sunday’s demonstration highlighted “some basic kicks and punches,” as well as more advanced board-breaking and flying sidekicks, according to freshman Michael Herbster.
“I really liked our bo staff and double nunchuck session section,” Yuan said. “We take two nunchucks and we start doing our form that we practiced.”
Freshman Wonhee Choi said most of the rinkside audience was “little kids that were really surprised.”
“A bunch of them gave us high-fives after the performance,” she said. “That was my favorite moment.”
The club spent the past few weeks preparing a short routine for the game, assembling a sequence of techniques taught by their master, Chun Myung Park, who visits once a week to train members in weapon work and other technical skills, according to Yuan.
“He doesn’t judge based on skill level or anything,” Yuan said. “We start off with a warm-up that he likes to do, and we try to keep that warm-up on our Thursday practices when he’s not there.”
Yuan said the team’s practices end with a 10-second meditation, followed by members cleaning up their practice mats.
“Leave the room how we found it,” he said.
The club currently has around 10 members who consistently attend weekly practices, including Herbster, who had no prior experience in taekwondo before joining but has come to love the sport.
“It’s always a good time, I enjoy it,” Herbster said. “It gives me a good break in the middle of the week, having an hour or so where I don’t have to worry about classes.”
“I’m trying to get our reputation out, and find more dedicated members who want to have fun,” Yuan said. “We’ve built a tight‑knit community.”