 Sister Linda Sim of Singapore takes part in a taekwondo demonstration in this undated file photo. / Courtesy of WTF |
By Yoon Chul
When people imagine a nun, they imagine someone calm, noble and serene.
Sister Linda Sim generally fits that image, unless the 55-year-old Singaporean nun is practicing taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art and an Olympic sport.
Sim will compete in the WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships from July 29 to 31 in Vladivostok, Russia.
“The goal of this event is to meet and learn from world athletes; and to bear witness to the universality and ‘timelessness’ of taekwondo,” Sim told The Korea Times through an e-mail interview.
“The 6th World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships is the highlight of my Taekwondo journey thus far. It has been my personal goal ever since I started training in Taekwondo in 1971 — to be able to represent Singapore and compete in a world event. I was 17 years old; and now almost 40 years on — indeed, a dream come true!”
Poomsae is a combination of basic actions and movements performed on an imaginary opponent. The athletes demonstrate various offensive and defensive taekwondo skills. Nevertheless, the black-belt nun is expected to show the passion she holds for the martial art.
The “kicking nun” became interested in taekwondo when she was eight years old, but it was when she was 17 that she began in earnest.
The brave Singaporean didn’t receive much support from her family to pursue martial arts and gave it up in 1978 as she wanted to become a sister of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood. But she has kept at it through stretching and calisthenics, eventually returning to taekwondo. In 2006, the Singapore Taekwondo Federation (STF) started offering taekwondo lessons to children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions at the Assisi Hospice Children Day Care Centre and Sim participated as a coach. She was overjoyed at having the privilege of coaching the Assisi Hospice children as well as for the opportunity to learn from the STF coaches.
Through this program, the children led by Sim as manager have even entered competitions including the 1st National Taekwondo Poomsae Competition in 2007 and won six gold medals, two silvers and a bronze.
“For me, taekwondo is more than a martial art/a competitive sport — it is a “way of being” which has become a fabric of my life. And, it has only been so because of the following significant people who believed in me and opened up possibilities for me to continue our taekwondo journey/practice.”
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