Currently, most of the members of Taekwondo Gym are children in Korea. In Korea, the 1970s was a time of explosion of population. It was a time when the baby Boomers married and had children.
At that time, an integrated organization called Kukkiwon was created in Taekwondo, and it was time to start full-scale development with the support of the government. As Korea’s economy developed, children continued to be born, and Taekwondo Gym continued to grow.
The strength of Taekwondo Gym has been the infant program. Parents considered taekwondo gym as nanny. The gym ran a gym shuttle bus and brought the children home in time for their parents’ quitting time.
but now?
The big problem in Korean society is the demographic cliff. People are no longer married and do not have children. In Korea, the birth rate is 0.98. Korea is the only country in the world with a fertility rate below zero. After 10 years, there will be no children coming to Taekwondo gym. This will lead to the fall of taekwondo gym.
Now, the goal of the Korea Taekwondo Association(KTA) is to bring adults to Taekwondo gym. However, there is no program for adults in Taekwondo gym in Korea. Taekwondo Masters also has no experience teaching taekwondo to adults.
If adults come to taekwondo gym, what is their purpose? Then the taekwondo program for adults should be centered on health care for adults, not just technique transfer.
KTA has been disseminating taekwondo programs for adults to Taekwondo masters for the past 10 years. On October 27, 2019 the Taekwondo Adult Activation Program ended. All participants received a certificate from the KTA president. Masters will hang this certificate at the gym.
Interestingly, the Taekwondo Adult Program is getting closer to the essence of martial arts, which no one intended. KTA made a manual considering how to teach taekwondo to adults, but the result was teaching taekwondo as Martial arts. At present, children and Gyms are gradually decreasing in Korea. but there is a strange phenomenon in which members of Taekwondo Gym are increasing. The solution to the problem of increasing adult members in taekwondo was simple. It is to teach taekwondo as a martial art.
