DANVERS — Ginnie Rooney isn’t your average taekwondo student.
Certainly, having earned a black belt sets Rooney in a different tier, with the belt signifying her mastery of the fundamentals of the martial art. But, the Saugus resident and Lynn native also happens to be 81, making her a significant outlier amongst her peers. In fact, Rooney is just one of five members of her Dojang’s 55-and-over Senior Club — and the first 77-year-old her master at Sun Taekwondo Academy had ever trained when she began her lessons.
Rooney’s path to earning a black belt — and eventually traveling to South Korea — began even before she put on a uniform herself.
She first encountered taekwondo when she took her grandson to class twice a week, watching as he worked his way up to the second dan black belt rank. Then, five years ago, Rooney attended a Christmas Party there and learned the Dojang was searching for mothers to take up kickboxing as part of its Mum’s Club. And so, at 77, Rooney took up kickboxing.
After four months of attending kickboxing classes, when Rooney could leave without feeling sore, she dove into taekwondo — disregarding her husband’s and son’s objections.
Undeterred, Rooney, who admitted, “I don’t like the word no,” signed up for taekwondo at her grandson’s next class. She was hooked from the moment she put the uniform on before her first class.
“I knew immediately,” she said.
When Rooney began taking classes, she couldn’t kick past her knee. Now, as she stares down her 82nd birthday next month, she can kick above her head.
Intending to earn her black belt by the time she turned 80, Rooney regularly attended classes — not missing a single class in three years.
“I was that persistent to get it,” she said. “I loved it to begin with, and the exercise is phenomenal for me.”
So, on a Tuesday in December, after three years of preparation, Rooney took her final BoDan test — and passed — just one day after turning 80.
Beyond the initial spark provided by her grandson, Rooney said she dove deep into taekwondo to avoid becoming a “couch potato” at 77 — no matter what anyone told her.
“I’m an active person, I don’t like to sit still,” she said, explaining she “became lazy” when her three grandsons reached middle school and no longer needed her to be a regular presence in their lives. “I decided I can’t do that. I can’t be lazy. I need my strength.”
Driving Rooney’s desire was also her husband’s diagnosis with Stomach Cancer — meaning she would have to pick up more of the physical work in and around the house.
“I just had to get myself in good shape and exercising,” she said.
Now, Rooney attends class three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays in the morning, each session lasting roughly 45 minutes. If there’s something she wants to devote added practice to, she’ll join a Friday class.
Taekwondo now extends beyond the classroom for Rooney, who said she had a patio built over her pool at home to practice outside.
“It just regenerates you,” she said. “I’m extremely flexible now. I wasn’t flexible before.”
Since she took up taekwondo, Rooney has longed to travel to Korea, where the martial art traces its origins back. This summer, she got her chance.
Rooney’s husband could not travel with her, but she recruited a friend to make the journey.
“It was phenomenal just to be there and see what they do,” she said. “If you could see them do taekwondo, trust me — we don’t do it anywhere as good as they do it. I don’t care who you are.”
“It was the trip of a lifetime,” Rooney continued, adding she plans to return in 2024.
Rooney has also taken to proving her skill in competition, where she does board breaking, which she deemed the “fun part” of taekwondo. Contrary to popular belief, Rooney said breaking a board is not about power but concentration.
“If you know how to break a board, if you hit dead center, those boards are gonna break, and that’s it,” she said.
At competitions, Rooney often surrounds herself with women half her age or younger — meaning she doesn’t have anyone to compete against most of the time.
That doesn’t stop Rooney, though, and at the rate she’s going, it seems little could.
“I enjoy it. I really do,” she said.
