Grandmaster Jeun's Tae Kwon Do Institute

Grandmaster Jeun's Tae Kwon Do Institute is one of Des Moines' longest-running traditional Korean martial arts academies, founded in 1983 as a non-profit organization and operating out of 606 E. Army Post Road in south Des Moines for more than four decades. The Institute is led by Grandmaster Young Jou Jeun, a 9th Degree Black Belt born in Korea who has practiced tae kwon do since age 7 - a credential extremely rare in American taekwondo and a mark of senior leadership in the art. Forty-plus years in the same city means the school has trained multiple generations of Des Moines families, and the long lineage carries into how classes are structured: traditional WT/Olympic-style curriculum (stances and basic blocks, the Taegeuk poomsae forms, kicking combinations from front and roundhouse up through spinning and jumping variations, structured one-step sparring, and controlled kyorugi sparring with proper protective gear), reinforced by the five tenets of taekwondo - courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit. The kids program is built to introduce children to the discipline of Korean martial arts at an age-appropriate pace, with younger groups focused on listening skills, motor control, and confidence, and older kids and teens working on conditioning, kicking precision, and the patient repetition required to memorize increasingly long poomsae. Belt progression follows the standard color-belt path from white through poom/black with stripes between, with tournament participation optional. The south Des Moines location is convenient for South Side, Norwalk-adjacent, Pleasant Hill, and the broader Polk County south metro. Trial classes are available for new students.