Master John Kim was born on September 25, 1980. Three years after he was born he was in the classroom begining his martial arts career. At the age of 4 he was actively participating in both Judo and Tae Kwon Do classes under his father Grandmaster Myung Hwan Kim. Grandmaster Kim, who was a world champion in Judo, started John in competition by the age of 5. Three years later, John was testing for his 1st degree black belt. As he continued his training in both Tae Kwon Do and Judo, John went on to win his first Junior Olympics at the age of 10. His brother Master Joseph E. Kim started taking a more active role as his instructor and helped John with his training. Over the next 7 years John attained higher degrees of black belt and won tournament after tournament. After seven straight years of competition, in 1997, John decided to take a break to focus on teaching and the traditional parts of the martial arts.
On May 22, 2000 Grandmaster Myung Hwan Kim passed away. This life altering event fueled John to return to competition. Unsure of how he would adjust after some time off, John started intense training with his brother Joe and quickly put himself back on top. He won the state championship which qualified him on to nationals. At nationals John fought his way through three tough matches putting him into the semifinals. After a long and very controvercial match John ended up taking third place at the national championships. This now qualified John for his first team trials at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs. After an all day competition it was down to John and his opponent Josh Coleman who was the current national team member at the welter weight division. John lost to Josh in the finals but ended up making the second team for the United States national team. The very next year John qualified to compete at the national team trials for World Championships. With a broken foot John fought his way to the finals winning his semifinal match with a last second knock out. John ended up taking second place to Steven Lopez who is the most decorated Tae Kwon Do athlete in the world. Steven is a four time World Champion and a two time Olympic gold medalist and a 1 time Olympic bronze medalist. John stayed in competition for several years making the national team twice and was the United States representative at Pan Am championships, and the Korea Open.Throughout the many years of John's competitive career, he has trained with some of the very best martial artists in the world. His Father was the highest multiple ranking black belt in the United States. His brother Joe is a World bronze medalist and former national team member. John also trained under Master Juan Moreno, owner of Peak Performance in Miami, Florida. Juan is a three time Olympian winning two silver medals in 1988 and 1992. During his days in competition, John occasionally visited Miami to train with Juan and his Peak Performance team. Because he trained with the best he became one of the best.
John retired from competition in 2007. He is now happily married to Megan E. Kim and is the Kwon Jang Nim "head of the martial arts school" in Fairview Park. He is now focused on building a successful traditional martial arts school, coaching athletes at a local and national level, and instilling the life skills of Tae Kwon Do.
