sports

Han Jong Ae, coach of the Taekwon-Do Team of the Korean Taekwon-Do Committee, was selected as one of the top ten coaches of the DPRK in 2022. 

In the past ten and more years, she trained many players to become members of the national team and contributed to demonstrating the honour of the birthplace of the Taekwon-Do by leading them with expedient guidance.

Her great competence was showcased at the 9th Asian Taekwon-Do championships held in 2018.

At the event, she coached eight players to win 18 gold medals and the DPRK team took the first place in total rankings of countries.

Describing Han as innovative and passionate, her fellows cited Taekwon-Do player Kim Ryu Gyong as an exemplary result of her innovative thinking and energetic efforts.

Kim Ryu Gyong was chosen into her team in recognition of her excellent physical fitness, fast response and outstanding skills.

However, she unexpectedly failed to produce successful results which had seemed to be a sure thing.

At that time, Han realized that coaching without a right method makes players passive in games and tried to find ways to make effective use of Kim’s strong points.

One of the training methods she adopted was to give the player confidence by enabling her to apply special skills in difficult situations.

In the course of analyzing mistakes and seeking for new training methods, Han recognized the importance of mobility that many players tend to neglect and found different methods of approaching for strikes, blocking the opponent’s attack and switching over to rapid counterattack.

Under her guidance, Kim won five golds and two silvers at the national martial arts championships and national Taekwon-Do all-star tournament last year. When she won the 2022 Taekwon-Do star cup, experts unanimously commented that Coach Han opened the gate to the victory.

At that time, the story of Han Jong Ae and her coaching methods applied in the training of Kim Ryu Gyong received wide coverage in newspapers.

One of the articles quoted her as saying: “Do not leave things to chance in training or matches. If training is the formula for victory, game result is the answer to it.” 

Han was selected as one of the top ten coaches of the DPRK in 2021 and 2022 in succession, which is the result of her innovative and passionate efforts directed towards the development of Taekwon-Do.