Korean Martial Arts Center Grandmaster Merrill Jung teaches martial arts with the same passion he had on his first day.
Growing up, fitness and sports were always a strong fascination for Jung, 76, who grew up in the North Beach neighborhood. All it took was one judo class at the YMCA for him to find his passion. Soon after, he went to work for the Y, lifeguarding and cleaning locker rooms before teaching a judo class of his own at its Embarcadero location.
“Growing up, for the different teachers I had, they never gave up on anybody,” Jung said. “That’s what I learned from my traditional type of thing. Everybody comes. Everybody means something.”
Jung, who retired from the San Mateo Probation Department, opened his studio in 1983 with the help of his student Andrew Erickson. He’s taught generations of students from its Ingleside storefront, which was added to the San Francisco Legacy Business registry in 2020.
More than four decades in business, Jung and his staff still teach taekwondo, hapkido and tai chi to people of all ages. Jung, who lives in South San Francisco, said he does not plan on retiring anytime soon. He has plenty of help from his family and instructors like Larry Dorsey and Josh Fennell.
When he’s not teaching the next generation of students, some of whose parents Jung taught, he spends his free time with his family and watching the Warriors and Western movies. Still, he always finds himself back at the studio.
“Each day is different,” Jung said. “I cherish each moment because this is what I enjoy and this is something that I can do naturally without putting a lot of brain energy into it.”
The Ingleside Light caught up with Jung to hear more about his career in martial arts.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What does a typical day of classes look like for you?
Well, it's interesting now because I'm here six days a week, except for Sunday. I’m in roughly around 3:30 p.m. and then leave around 8 o’clock. I don’t teach all the classes. I have five or six staff members. I only want to teach the class I want to teach. I teach Olympic taekwondo. I like that. I like to take kids to competitions. That’s what I truly enjoy because I grew up on all that stuff.
Right now, Mr. Dorsey comes in almost every day. He works his class first, and then after that, my nephew and Josh teach the Tiny Tiger class of four to six-year-olds. Grandmaster Dorsey teaches the hapkido class, and then after that, I’ll teach my own Olympic class. On Thursday, I teach a judo class here and there, and then I teach the adult class on Tuesday and Friday.
What keeps you motivated?
My main motivation is a lot of kids who want to learn. I gravitate to them. I see the potential. I say, “God, this kid could be a national champ right now.” That just keeps that burning desire to teach more and more.
Why should people study martial arts?
One thing I realized is that martial arts is an alternative for a lot of kids if they don't make the soccer, basketball or baseball team at school. They can make martial arts their sport. At least they have some kind of sport identity, if you will, and plus, a lot of the people who come in, a lot of the young ones, they're pretty sheltered, and we're hoping to bring them out of their shells.
