Local self-defense school marks five decades in business

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

December 27, 2023

GREEN BAY – It is no small feat for a company to remain in business for 50 years.

But when a small, local business survives that long, especially during a global pandemic, that’s truly something to celebrate. 

It’s a milestone Kim’s Tae Kwon Do Center (205 Hudson St. in Green Bay) is proud to recognize.

Founded in 1973 by Grand Master Yung Sam Kim, the center – the first Tae Kwon Do school in Green Bay – has trained thousands of students.

To mark the milestone, Kim’s Tae Kwon Do Center had commemorative gold coins created – which have the school’s 50th-anniversary logo on one side and the school’s logo on the reverse side – hosted a three-hour Demos & Booyah event and a 50th Anniversary Awards Dinner.

“In December we hosted demonstrations during our promotion testing,” Master Penny Duggan, president and co-owner of Kim’s Tae Kwon Do Center, said. “We have also designed a 2024 calendar with photos from the celebrations.”

Current owners – Masters Penny and Dave Duggan – said they met at the school in 1979.

Penny, who had been attending the school since 1974, took over the business in 1993 when Grand Master Kim moved to Chicago to be with his wife and family full-time.

Though she said Kim remains involved with the school – coming three times a year to review students’ testing for their next Tae Kwon Do and/or Judo belt ranks at the school’s promotion tests.

Penny said the school also teaches Judo.

Kim, she said, was a Judo master in Korea and traveled throughout Europe teaching Judo to the European Olympic teams.

Master Penny said she became interested in martial arts when she began watching the “Kung Fu” TV series.

“The show’s premise reflected on the main character’s teachings as a youth to avoid conflict or confrontation, and to only fight for self-defense or justice,” she said. “That’s what got me started.”

Dave said for him, it was a different situation altogether.

He said he had been contemplating taking lessons for a while, but after being assaulted at a local bar, he signed up for classes the very next week.

Though finding Tae Kwon Do in different ways, the Duggans have stuck with it for more than four decades – both continuing to learn themselves and sharing their knowledge with others at the center.

Business success a group effort
One of the reasons the school has remained open this long, Penny said, is because they have a lot of good people behind them.

“We have more than 100 Black Belts and 15-20 head instructors that help support us,” she said. “Our instructors teach classes at other locations like churches, schools, the local YWCA, area park and recreation departments and community centers throughout Green Bay, Pulaski, Suamico and De Pere. So, they bring those students to us.”

Despite the off-site location options, the main location since the Duggans took over ownership, and where the majority of their classes have taken place, has been in the gymnasium at Redeemer School on Green Bay’s west side
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Paying rent to the school, Penny said, has proven to be more cost-effective for them than owning their own building.

Just as the location has remained the same over the last five decades, so too have many of the school’s instructors.

Master Penny and Dave have been with the school for 49 and 45 years, respectively.

They are Kim’s two highest-ranking Tae Kwon Do Black Belts. 

Master Ed Manning, the school’s highest ranking Judo student/instructor, has been involved for 49 years.

Master Rhonda Manning is the school’s first woman to receive a Judo Black Belt and teaches Tae Kwon Do three nights per week. 

Penny said numerous other students have been with the school for 20-plus years.

Among their alumni, she said, are more than 100 active Black Belts and 300-plus color belts, which includes those students enrolled in the various outreach programs their instructors teach throughout the community. 

Pandemic was a huge hurdle
The COVID-19 pandemic, Penny said, was, by far, the biggest challenge the school’s experienced in all its 50 years.

As with so many businesses, Kim’s was forced to shut down for two months.

During that time, Penny said more than half of their students quit or took a long break, and no new students were coming in.

“There (have been many students) just starting to come back in the last six months, so we’re getting our numbers back up again,” she said.

To help students continue to learn, Penny said Kim’s proactively offered free Zoom classes to students during the pandemic – which concentrated on techniques that could be done without a student partner.

“For fun the classes incorporated Zoom challenges for fight scenes, kicking toilet paper rolls in the air and kicking screw-on bottle caps off the bottles with back-spinning kicks,” she said.

Penny revamped the school’s website, set up a YouTube channel for the school and also produced 25 free lesson videos and 16 free-form videos, which covered a pattern of techniques required for each belt rank.

When the school was allowed to resume traditional classes, Penny said procedures were modified for safety – which included staying six feet apart, using foam noodles to simulate attacks and encouraging the use of hand sanitizer.

“Thankfully, we received grant money from the State of Wisconsin and the Greater Green Bay Chamber to recover a portion of the lost income,” she said. “It wasn’t until this year, 2023, that the school’s student enrollment has approached pre-COVID numbers.”

Self-defense coupled with respect, self-control
Penny said respect is a major aspect of any martial arts classroom competition – pointing out how competitors bow to one another.

“We bow to one another in class because that’s how we show respect for one another,” she said. “Even though the techniques we learn can be deadly, we also learn control. It is very rare for someone to get injured at our classes, testings or tournaments. It’s amazing to watch our Black Belts perform because they’re inches away from knocking somebody out, but because of that control and respect that we teach, people rarely ever get hurt. Also, we don’t teach full contact when we’re sparring or working with other students because we teach that control. But we do teach full contact when we’re hitting targets and breaking boards and cement bricks.”

Self-defense, Penny said, is something everyone needs, and everyone can do.

Most people, she said, sign up for classes to learn self-defense, others want to have a good workout and develop their balance, focus, concentration and coordination. 

Penny said Tae Kwon Do is something that can be modified to meet the capabilities of students.

“We’ve taught a lot of people with physical challenges,” she said. “We taught a blind student and trained him to the Black Belt (level). We had a man who was paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair – we trained him to a 3rd degree Black Belt. His wife had Multiple Sclerosis and was also in a wheelchair and we trained her to Black Belt. We improvise the foot techniques for them. Older people can’t kick as high, so we improvise there, too.”

Dave said they have also advanced students to the Black Belt level who have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and Asperger’s syndrome.

“We found ways for them to adapt their own situation and ability into the art itself,” he said. “We work on their agility with them, and work on their stretching,” 

Incorporated into everything it does, Penny said the school continues Grand Master Kim’s traditional teachings, emphasizing the philosophy and five basic tenets of Tae Kwon Do – courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit.

“We teach (students) to be aware of their surroundings; how to use their voice; how to walk away from a situation; how to run away from a situation; and the last resort is using simple and effective techniques to defend yourself,” she said.

Since the day the school opened its doors in 1973, its tagline has been “The Ultimate in Self-Defense” – which Penny said not only focuses on the self-defense aspect but also provides family-oriented, affordable fun.

“We pride ourselves in teaching a family-oriented class that includes people of varying ages, from children (age 7 and up) to parents and grandparents,” she said. “It’s one of the few sports the entire family can do together regularly, year-round. It’s very much a family atmosphere that’s affordable,” Master Patty said.

Penny said the center still charges $25 per month – “which is the same price my father paid for my lessons in 1974.”
Classes, she said, are one hour in length – running from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays – and students can attend as many as they’d like.

The center also offers a family rate of $60 a month.

Classes taken at other locations throughout the community have their own rates. 

Keeping costs down and steady, Penny said, has always been important to the center.

“When we took over the school 30 years ago, we made that commitment that as long as rent was reasonable, we’d keep the price the same,” Master Penny said. “We (support low-class fees with funds raised from) testings, our annual tournaments and training camps. I’ll also contract out for corporate events and do different workshops for self-defense.”

In addition, when Masters Penny and David took over the business, they both still had full-time jobs – Penny in the marketing department of a local engineering firm and David as an engineer for a local paper company.

They are now both retired.

2024 and beyond
Looking at 2024, Penny said they anticipate business to continue to pick up.

The pair also has a handful of events already planned for the new year – including the center’s Black Belts will battle each other in laser tag at the annual team building event set for February.

Penny said new projects are also in the works, including the production of a professional video that will capture the philosophy and culture of Kim’s Tae Kwon Do.  

The Duggans said they are also organizing a “Tae Kwon Do vacation” somewhere warm.

“It’s fun to travel with friends/groups who have common interests,” Penny said. “We will enjoy Tae Kwon Do/Judo workouts, optional golf, pickleball, entertainment and socializing with friends.”

The Duggans said they are excited for the future – and encourage anyone interested in Tae Kwon Do and/or Judo to come try a free class.

“It is our goal for everyone, young and old alike, to know self-defense,” she said. “We make learning simple, by emphasizing technique and the understanding of the technique. It’s like an extended family at our school. We all share our skills and techniques with one another.” 

Visit kims-tkd.com for more information.