It’s not uncommon for teenage athletes to dedicate large amount of time to their sports. They may spend weekends at tournaments, hours at practice, or early mornings in the weightroom. However, most adolescent athletes won’t travel the world for their sport. Lauren Gruber (‘18) is an exception; this summer, she spent a month and a half in South Korea teaching Taekwondo to young Korean students.

“The Taekwondo school that I go to, Majest Martial Arts, owns other schools in Korea, so they were sending people over to help teach little kids,” Gruber said.

Gruber prepared for her trip by learning Korean, which she continued studying while she was there. Learning the language was not easy, especially on top of long weekdays teaching at the Taekwondo school.

“On the weekends some of the masters would take us sightseeing, but on the weekdays we would just get up, pick up some kids, go to the school, and then teach until the end of the day,” Gruber said. At night, she stayed at one of the master’s houses with two of her fellow Taekwondo students from here in Stafford.

Gruber said that working with the kids was the most rewarding part, albeit the most challenging. “My favorite part was actually sleeping just because it was just a lot of work. The hardest thing was communicating with the kids, but as they got to know me, I was able to teach them better.”

As Gruber was exposed to the Korean lifestyle through this experience, she began to see a huge shift from life in America.

“They don’t really have houses, it’s mostly apartments,” Gruber said, adding, “and there’s lots of pollution there because the island so small, smaller than Virginia, but there are so many people.”

Despite the lack of sleep, pollution, and traffic, Gruber said that the experience definitely changed her for the better.

“Learning to communicate non-verbally, and using that to teach someone was a great leadership experience.”