The Field House gymnasium filled with hollow echoes on Thursday as participants smacked each other against a hard mat.
Nearly a dozen people, wrapped in white robes, shouted spontaneously as they demonstrated hapkido, a form of Korean martial arts.
While the scene sounds violent, hapkido actually means, “the art of coordinated power” in Korean.
Master Brian Hayes, a fifth-degree black belt and head instructor of the UI Hapkido Club, said training in a martial art is beneficial for all aspects of a student’s life.
“Hapkido teaches students the value of hard work, discipline, and overcoming obstacles,” he said. “This is drawn by rewards of self-confidence, self-control, and perseverance.”
The Iowa Hapkido Club was founded in 1990 after Michael Drahos, a graduate from Iowa State University, moved to Iowa City. Drahos had studied the art under ISU Professor Pak Yong Chin.
This fall, Hayes expects there to be roughly 30 to 35 people in the Hapkido Club, which offers free self-defense lessons for those who are interested. The seminars, which take around one hour and work best with 10 to 30 individuals, teach ways to escape danger quickly without requiring much strength, according to the group’s website.
Li Guo, a UI graduate student studying comparative literature, moved to Iowa in 2003 and has been a part of the Hapkido Club for over a year.
“[Hapkido] increases your physical and spiritual strength,” she said, wearing a blue belt around her waist. “You learn how to expand your own boundaries.”
Hapkido — founded from Japanese and Korean influences — is primarily used to teach self-defense. Students learn to protect themselves using various techniques including joint-locks, throws, kicks, and punches.
An important aspect of hapkido is learning to fall without getting injured, Hayes said.
“Students learn to fall correctly to dissipate energy,” he said. “Everybody is going to fall at sometime in his or her life.”
Hayes was drawn to the martial art in college, saying he liked that it involves no sparring or tournaments.
“Hapkido is more self-defense oriented,” Hayes added. “It is not a competition and is a well-rounded art.”
Hapkido students advance through levels similar to that of tae kwon do, with a colored Korean belt system. Beginners start with a white belt and work their way up to fifth-degree black belt. After reaching a fifth-degree black belt, trainers will have advanced through 12 levels.
Students training in hapkido wear heavy judo uniforms called do-baks — at first participants wear a white shirt and pants and then switch to black pants when a brown belt status is reached.
While joining the club requires hard work and willingness to learn difficult techniques, anyone is welcome to attend training sessions, Hayes said.
“We start slow for beginners,” he said. “Nine out of ten have never done a martial art before so the hard work surprises a lot of people.”
